Veteran Student
by SoulsLastResort
Summary: As things start winding down from the Winter War, Ichigo is sent a message. From the Central 46. Even after all the skills that he has shown over the year, they still want him to go to school, and go to school he shall.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or anything related to the anime.

A/N: I know that my other story _To Hell And Back, For You_ hasn't been updated in over a couple months, and that's because of two reasons: 1- I had to change my approach to the story, as well as make some helpful adjustments that readers had brought up (which I'm grateful for): and 2- this story was taking my time. Also, I had more motivation and drive for this story then the other, but I will not abandon my other story. It's just taking me more time to write and think out the plot then I had originally given thought to.

As for this story, I currently have 6 chapters already written out, and I will upload them based on reviews. If you have any questions, statements, critiques, or ideas, leave a review and I will edit any errors and apply any ideas I seem fit for the next couple of chapters. I like this story already and have a lot of fun writing it so, hopefully, it will be smoother then my other story. Again, if you have anything, leave a review, and I hope you like reading this story as much as I like writing it.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Aftereffects

Life without a focus or a cause is boring beyond comprehension and leaves the average person lost. Ichigo knew this all to well. Shortly after the battle with Aizen, Ichigo was lost as to what was his reason to even wake up in the morning. Yeah, before, he had school, the occasional bully or gang leader to deal with, the soul at the light pole who would have to have fresh flowers, ect. But ever since the night he got his soul reaper powers and met Rukia, the whole reason to get up was to go save this soul from being eaten, or give a lost soul a burial. Then that changed to saving Rukia, which then changed to beating the Bounts and their leader, followed by all those other troubles with the Soul Society which was shortly followed by having to fight a spiritual war against Aizen and his Espada. Now that all of it is passed, how would a person go back to a life that was as exciting and dangerous as a soul reaper, to going to school?

"Gooooood Morningggggggg Ichigooooooo!" Well, there is that to get up for.

Without opening his eyes, Ichigo sat up calmly allowing the dropkick that was aimed for his head to miss causing Isshin to land on the bed perpendicular to Ichigo. Then Ichigo executed an elbow drop right on the breastbone, knocking all of the air out of Isshin's chest. While Isshin was gasping for air, Ichigo slowly got up, grabbed Isshin by the back of his head and heaved him out the window. With that over with Ichigo looked at his clock. It read '5:30'.

'_Great.'_, he thought sarcastically. _'How can he be so active this early in the morning? My alarm doesn't even ring til six.' _Ichigo felt something soft impacting the back of his head. Turning around, Ichigo saw a small pillow, to small for any average person to use. It was Kon's.

"Really, to be up this early has to be against the law.", the little plushy muttered tiredly as he rubbed his eyes awake.

"I agree.", Ichigo answered which a yawn. Fast footsteps that became louder with each passing second stormed up the stairs, warning Ichigo of the next surprise attack. Before the door opened, Ichigo picked up Kon. (Much to the mod souls protest and disapproval) When the door opened, Ichigo threw Kon as hard as he could in the face of Isshin, turning the tables as Isshin fell backwards with a temporarily knocked-out Kon on his forehead. When he sat up, a foot greeted him 'good morning' as it slammed him back down to the ground, effectively knocking out the elder Kurosaki.

'_Kon's going to give me hell when he comes to.'_

After taking a few minutes to brush his teeth and take a quick morning shower, Ichigo walked back into his room, catching Kon as he 'ambushed' him through the door. He could hear the curses and swears as the mod soul tried to get out of the clutches of Ichigo and give him a piece of his mind. Sighing, Ichigo tossed Kon back on the bed, got dressed for school, and grabbed an unconscious Isshin and threw him on the couch. Ichigo decided to go back to his room until Yuzu and Karin awake to go back to the living room. Upon entering, he noticed Kon sitting on the bed steaming, but was surprised when Kon, instead of throwing a hissy-fit at him or gloating about how much better he is instead of Ichigo, just seemed to take a deep breath and relax. Shrugging, Ichigo decided to look over his homework that he finished last night. While checking, he heard a door opening and closing as soft footsteps traveled down the hall indicating that it was Yuzu. Kon also realized this as he went stiff and his eyes started looking for possible hiding spots.

"Relax. If she comes in here asking about you, I got you covered since you've been quiet and not disruptive.", Ichigo told him. This seemed to have gotten Kon to relax, though he was notably still rigid. A slight yelp was heard as Yuzu noticed Isshin on the couch. Ichigo couldn't help but smile as he pictured Yuzu's face at seeing Isshin on the couch with bruises and a possible broken nose. As Ichigo got to the last few questions, another set of footsteps, these slightly loud and groggy, indicated Karin was up. An audible sigh was released as she too seen the form of their father.

Done with checking on his homework, Ichigo finally went downstairs as the TV could be heard and the sound of a microwave's 'bing', as the timer went off.

"Good morning Ichigo.", Yuzu said cheerfully as she smiled at him.

"You really gave it to him this time, didn't you. He's still not up.", claimed Karin as she flipped through the channels.

"Old bastard got it coming to him. You would think that by this point in time, he would get the message.", replied Ichigo.

"Now now Ichigo, I'm pretty sure he has a good reason for it.", Yuzu said while retrieving the meal in the microwave.

"I would really like to know what that would be. Really, how many times do I have to wake up and kick his ass around for him to get that he can't even touch me anymore?" As he finished, a sudden blow to the middle of his back sent Ichigo flying to the wall. Looking up, he saw Isshin grinning broadly as he cracked his knuckles, "What was that son? If I can hit you that easily without you even moving to intercept than you've learned noth-", he was cut off by his son's fist and the father-son brawl commenced. Karin just walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, consuming the meal that Yuzu cooked. Yuzu finally stopped trying to break up the fights as she took a page out of Karin's book and ignored them, making conversation with Karin instead.

The doorbell rang. As Yuzu went to open the door, Ichigo had Isshin in a headlock, punching him in the face while Isshin would retaliate with punching Ichigo in the kidneys. Ichigo's kidneys gave first and Ichigo was forced to release Isshin. The older Kurosaki attempted a spinning roundhouse kick, but Ichigo kicked Isshin's grounded ankle pushing him back and making Isshin do a split. Ichigo couldn't tell if the tears his father shed were fake or real, but took advantage and proceeded with stomping on any visible surface of the poor man. The person behind the door turned out to be Keigo seeing if Ichigo was ready to go to school yet.

"Yeah, let me get my stuff.", Ichigo yelled out as he rubbed the spot where his kidneys were and rubbed his knuckles. Really, of all the people Ichigo ever punched, his dad's head was probably the hardest of them all. He hurried to his room and retrieved his backpack which he could've swore he closed when he put his homework back.

"Hurry up Ichigo or we might be late to class!", Keigo yelled.

"Shut up, I'm coming." A minute later, Ichigo came out and noticed Chad and Mizuiro there as well. He nodded to the two. When was the last time Ichigo just walked with his three friends? It felt like centuries ago. Hard to believe how much life can change in the course of a year. While walking, the four came across Tatsuki and Orihime. Though Orihime refused at first due to the fear of intruding, she and Tatsuki eventually joined and the little group of six made their way to school. Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuro were good friends with Ichigo. Tatsuki was a childhood friend, Mizuiro just cool to talk to and hang out with, and Keigo's ok too when he doesn't get eccentric. And then there's Chad and Orihime. Those two were war friends, practically family and very precious to him. Chad had a sort of bond with Ichigo that Ichigo never had before. Orihime was a good friend and always supported him along with the rest of his friends. Yeah, the other three are great, but these two are closer to his heart than he lets on.

"-igo, hey Ichigo? Ichigo.", Having enough of being ignored, Tatsuki, smacked Ichigo on the back of his head. Ichigo was going to yell at her when Tatski cut him off with, "Well, you deserve it! Pay attention why don't cha?"

"Yeah Ichigo, you were walking like a zombie or something. What's on your mind?", Mizuiro asked.

"Probably trying to sense hollows or something. Well what do you got?", Keigo followed. Ichigo flinched when Keigo brought that up, but then relaxed when he remembered that they were awake when Aizen invaded Karakura Town and more than deserve an explanation. It was a long story starting from the night of his first encounter with a hollow leading all the way up to Aizen. They actually took it quiet well, but that could've been the fact that they had subtle hints before the story and had their suspicions beforehand. _Smack!_

"Damn it Tatsuki, will you stop hitting me!", Ichigo yelled as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Well if you stop zoning out, maybe I could!"

"Come on Tatsuki, maybe Ichigo just has a lot on his mind. You don't have to hurt him to get his attention. Just a tap on the shoulder would be fine.", Orihime tried to defuse the argument before it began.

"Fine, whatever you say Orihime. Though I don't know what he would have to think about that he has to zone out."

"What makes you think I'm zoning out? I could just be ignoring you." _Smack!_ "Ok, I probably deserved that one."

"Hopeless as ever.", Tatsuki muttered. While walking, the group passed a local movie theater. None of the movie photos really caught his eye until he saw a multicolored one with explosions and every other thing that you would see on a movie photo. The title really struck Ichigo. 'A Soul's War'. Looking at the poster, he noticed Don Kanonji and face palmed. Really! This guy actually made a movie out of the thing! He groaned when he saw an actor with orange hair marveling Don like a god.

"You've got be kidding.", Ichigo said.

"Yeah, tell me about it. Even more shocking is that it's been nominated for movie of the year. Unbelievable.", Tatsuki replied. "But I got to give it to him, he really found a guy that looks exactly like you." She pointed at the Ichigo look-a-like and smirked. Ichigo took a second look at him and noticed that he in fact does _not_, look like him. Ichigo was sure to give her an insult right back when Chad put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, we got to get to class."

"Yeah, you're right.", Ichigo said with a sigh. A short while later, the group got to school and walked into their classroom. Tatsuki walked inside the class before Orihime to scan the room. Clear. Turning around, she had just a second to recognize the red hair and glasses.

"Hi Orihime! So good to see you and your-", before Chizuru could continue, Tatsuki gave her a solid right that effectively detached her from Orihime.

"Well, seems Chizuru hasn't changed much.", Keigo said.

"Look, it's Uryu.", Chad pointed out. The other three looked at the doorway to see the self-proclaimed 'Last Quincy' walk through the door and take his seat. Yet another person that Ichigo was thankful to have as a companion though their relationship did have a rocky start. It was ironic really. He claims he hates soul reapers with all his existence, but he's Ichigo's friend and helped the Soul Society just as many times as Ichigo, Chad and Orihime. Oh well, the excuse 'wrong place, wrong time' never seemed to fail when his father questioned it.

"Hey Ichigo, when are you going to get your hair cut?", Mizuiro asked. Ichigo was puzzled at first, but then remembered his reflection in the mirror. Ichigo was going to cut it, but never had the time. Yeah, even he would admit that he looked cooler with the longer hair, but long hair just got in the way.

"Beats me. What about you? Your hair is a little longer than the last time I saw it.", Ichigo countered.

"Unlike you, I actually like long hair and was going to grow it out a little. I'll have to trim it a little though.", Mizuiro answered. Keigo was about to say something when the teacher walked in and told her class to settle down and return to their seats. Ichigo reflected on the past hour or so. He found that he missed it. All of it. Not just the action of being a substitute soul reaper, the simple life of a high-school student as well. Ichigo opened up his backpack to retrieve his homework when he saw Kon eating his lunch.

"What the hell are you doing!", Ichigo barely managed to keep from yelling and keep it down to a whisper. Kon just looked up at him with indifference.

"You used me, now this is my reward." Ok, maybe not all of it.

At lunch, Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, Uryu, Keigo, Tatsuki, and Mizuiro went to the roof to eat their lunch. When Ichigo got up there, he immediately grabbed Kon and threw him out of the backpack. Kon, being a plushy without any nerve endings or pain receptors, just got up and dusted himself off. For just a moment, he was angry, but then he noticed Orihime and completely forgot his anger. As he prepared to jump towards heaven, he was kicked over the fence on the roof by Ichigo and proceeded to fall from the roof of the school to the school grounds. When Kon looked up at the roof, the noticed Ichigo smirking, and Kon just decided to give him the finger.

"I like to see you come up here and do that to my face!", Ichigo yelled down. To anyone else, it would seem that Ichigo was just yelling at a stuffed animal, or the ground if they didn't see Kon.

"Pff, I'm not scared of you. You're nothing but a washed-up waste of space with a worrying disinterest in women! I can take ya! Come down here and I'll give you a first class ticket to pain so bad that even Aizen would beg for mercy!" As much as Keigo tried, he couldn't suppress the growing laughter building in his body and fell down to the ground laughing until it hurt. That had to be the funniest thing Keigo ever witnessed. Ichigo getting told off by a stuffed animal. He wasn't the only one that saw the hilarity in the situation. Everyone except for Chad had different levels of building laughter and since Chad had only a smile on his face and nothing more, he wasn't counted. Mizuiro seemed to take it well, with only a large smile on his face. Tatsuki and Uryu each were struggling to keep a straight face but were failing and going into dry heaves of laughter. And Orihime looked ready to burst into a giggling fit any second, keeping both hands over her mouth to laugh even now.

"Oh, you are so dead when I get my hands on you! And this time I won't let Uryu fix you up!"

"Kiss my ass.", and Kon bent over and patted his bottom a few times. Orihime lost it and collapsed into a fit of giggles and deep belly laughter.

"Kon, is that really appropriate?", a new voice asked. Everyone looked up and saw Rukia in her standing by the doorway, without a gigai. She looked the same as when they last saw her, but with one notable difference. The Lieutenant Badge for Squad 13 residing on her left arm.

"Rukia!", Kon yelled and started running into the school to get back on the roof.

"Or that's just perfect! Now I can get the perverted little shit and give him to Yuzu when I'm done with him!", Ichigo commented while cracking his knuckles with an evil look in his eyes and envisioning all the tortures that he can apply on Kon.

"Why can't you and Kon ever get along?", Rukia asked while walking towards everyone else.

"Why can't Byakuya take out that stick up his ass and not be such a damn prick." _Smack!_ "Ouch damn it, that hurt!"

"Good.", Rukia said angrily. "Maybe it'll teach you more respect towards a Captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads and Head of the Kuchiki noble family!", she almost yelled as she shook her fist threateningly. It was awkward at first to explain who and what Rukia was to Tatsuki and the others, and Rukia had a hard time adjusting to the three knowing about who she really is, but she quickly adapted and grew comfortable with discussing soul reaper business around the three.

"Hi Rukia! It's been awhile! How have you been?", Orihime asked.

"I'm fine. What about you all?" A loud shout and yell distracted everyone from answering as Ichigo had Kon pinned under his foot. Ichigo was grinning evilly as Kon's shouts of rage and anger were dulled to begging and sorrow as he noticed Ichigo seemed scarier than before.

"So you think you can take me huh? You're not doing to much of a good job now are ya?"

"I was just kidding you know…you…you…Rukia!"

"Too late!" And Ichigo began the torture.

Ignoring the drama between the two, the rest just sat in a circle chatting and catching up. Rukia questioned how life was after the war, and vise versa. Then she told them the real reason why she was here, earning confused looks from everyone present. After a while, a very mistreated Kon limped towards the circle. Before he could mutter a word, Ichigo grabbed him and stuffed him back inside his backpack. "I'm going to give you straight to Yuzu when I get home.", and he closed the bag before Kon could say a word.

"You know it's pretty hypocritical to get into fights and beat all of the bullies that harass you, just for you to turn around and bully on poor, little Kon.", Rukia stated.

"Oh like you have room to talk. You stomped on him just as much as you hit me.", Ichigo retorted. "Besides, he deserved it, mocking me…", Ichigo trailed off.

"Anyway, let me tell you why I'm here. Though I would like to spend more time with the others, I have to return by the end of the day. I was sent here to retrieve you, Ichigo, and escort you to Head-Captain Yamamoto at Squad 1."

"And can I ask why?", Ichigo asked, slightly suspicious.

"I wasn't briefed on the details and was just given orders to 'retrieve' you." It was the truth. She passed all that she knew to the others, which wasn't much while Ichigo was torturing Kon. She found it odd, but she wasn't going to deny orders. A few more seconds passed which was ended by a sigh from Ichigo.

"Since you have to leave by the end of today, I take it that they want me to come now?"

"Well, not exactly. You can still finish your school day and leave when it over. You ok with that?" A nod was her answer.

Ichigo thought about it a little more. Looking over at his friends, they all were watching him. Especially Keigo, Tatsuki, and Mizuiro. They never witnessed Ichigo go from his human body to his spiritual one. "Yeah, the end of school will be alright." Nodding, Rukia got her Soul pager out and texted a message to the Soul Society. "So are you going to stay for class or are you going to Urahara's shop?"

"All my orders stated that I had to convince you to go to the Soul Society and escort you to the Squad 1 Barracks, and since I completed half of my assignment, I thought I could stay here with the rest of you.", Rukia answered. On cue, the bell rang signaling the end of lunch and for students to return to their classes.

"Well, I hope you find a place to sit down and relax. Since you don't have a geigi, you won't be able to interact with the physical world.", Uryu stated while walking towards the door and proceeded down the stairs.

"I can deal with that.", Rukia answered, following him down.

The rest of the day went by without incident and they all met at the front of the school. As it turns out, Chizuru can also see Rukia in her soul self, and brief explanation and greetings were exchanged. As the final school bell rang, Ichigo walked to the entrance of the school. Everyone else was already there, and was surprised to see Chizuru there as well. Taking out a napping Kon, Ichigo reached into his mouth and pulled out a little green pill. He swallowed the pill and was ejected out of his body, leaving Kon in charge of the body.

"Now listen, just go home and tell my dad that I was called to the Soul Society and might not be back for a while. And just act natural in front of Karin and Yuzu.", Ichigo told him. Kon just nodded, it wasn't everyday that Ichigo let him take his body for a spin. "Oh, and don't tear my body up!" With that said Ichigo turned to his friends.

"Bye guys, see you later. And make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.", Ichigo pointed at Kon, ignoring his 'hey!'. They nodded and he and Rukia started walking the opposite direction that the others were going. Once out of sight, the group started walking home when Keigo asked, "You know, I haven't really talked to you. Names Keigo.", he said as he extended his hand. Kon shook it.

"Yeah I know. I know all your names. Hope we can become friends.", Kon said back with a smile.

"That's creepy, seeing Ichigo smile. I'm more used to his usual scowl.", Mizuiro commented. Tatsuki agreed.

"Well as you can see, I'm better than Ichigo at any and everything. By the time he comes back, you'll have forgot about him.", Kon gloated.

"Thankfully, this is where I depart, see you guys tomorrow.", Uryu stated as he took a right and disappeared shortly after.

The walk to Urahara's shop was uneventful. Once they got to the shop, they were greeted by the one and only Kisuke Urahara.

"Why hello Ichigo, long time no see. How's it goin'? You here to shop or go to the Soul Society or for some tea and conversation…", Urahara asked with a small smile.

"Don't act like you don't know. Is it ready?"

"So rude Rukia!", Urahara said with a fake hurt expression and tears. "But to answer your question, yes."

"Any idea as to why they asked for me?", Ichigo questioned. Urahara took a quick glance at Rukia and she seemed to be in the dark as well.

"Surprisingly, no, I haven't. Though I would like to find out. You know how I hate being out of the loop, as they say.", Urahara said smoothly as he pulled out his fan. Ichigo narrowed his eyes slightly, but didn't question him further. "Alright, let's get this thing started. Meet me at the training grounds when you're ready."

A couple minutes later, Ichigo and Rukia stood staring at the huge rectangular gate that they had to go through to get into the Soul Society. It was already activated as Ichigo and Rukia headed towards it. As Ichigo was about to enter, he heard Urahara say, "Welcome Ichigo. I look forwards to seeing you in my office." He turned around to ask what he meant but Rukia literally pushed him through the gate. Deep in thought, he still didn't fail to notice a very familiar presence behind him. "So, what do you think of that?", Urahara asked Yoruichi.

"I'll give credit to where credit is due, that was a good statement, though it had cliché timing.", the black cat stated.

"It was the truth though, it's going to be a fun year."

"You just want another chance to make a fool out of him."

"I didn't think you of all people would object to that line of reasoning."

"I don't at all. Making him blush and embarrassed is the only kind of fun around here anymore."

"Ah Yoruichi, you hurt my pride.", he grabbed his chest as though he were stabbed. "I know all about your hot spring antics and fully support your methods, though I am a little jealous of him. Wouldn't you want another chance to put him through hell again?"

If a cat could smirk, it would look like Yoruichi's face at that moment, "You know me all to well, Kisuke."

"Of course I do, hanging around you for all this time has given me invaluable information on the great Shihouin princess." At the statement, Yoruichi raised a single paw and extended her claws.

"Well if that was true, then you would know how I feel about my royal status being thrown back at me.", she said in a calm voice. Though calm, the threat implied was easily recognized. Urahara gave a meek smile and laugh while adjusting his bucket hat. He was trying to inconspicuously create space between her and him, though he knew it was futile. She was faster than him by far. It would still be fun to try. Besides, seeing Yoruichi slowly walk towards him in her cat body always kinda turned him on. Seeing the way the body moved and imagining that black, furry body replaced with a tanned, toned one with a sultry look, naked and on all fours but kept the same movement always put him on the edge of a nosebleed.

"Boss, preparations and tests are ready." Oh Tessi, both saving him and killing his buzz at the same time, classic. Urahara took to clear his throat to remedy his guaranteed stuttering had he spoke without doing so. Yoruichi always knew what to do to all men, Urahara included, to make them stutter and uncoordinated. Men, Urahara especially, now matter how hard they hid and concealed it, always had a perverted side. Yoruichi knew what Urahara was thinking when she walked slowly over to him. He was a pervert. It wasn't like it was his sole purpose in life, just, when the opportunity arose, he took it. All men would. That was why the orange-headed teen that left a few minutes ago puzzled her. Now matter how great a view or opportunity, he never took the chance. It was a conundrum that she never figured out and always tried to fix. She focused back outside and heard Urahara clear his throat. To that, she just inwardly smirked and started to walk away. Urahara took a breath and replied, "Good; now we wait."

As the last of Ichigo's friends departed, Kon started stretching his temporary body as he planned to see if he still had the edge that made him different from a regular mod soul like that terrible Chappy. Before he could start his mad dash to Ichigo's house, he was alerted to a troublemaker.

"Hey, you orange-headed freak! What did I tell you about the hair? Are you mentally stupid, were you dropped and then stomped on when you were a kid? Either dye it, or stop dying it, or do we just have to rip it all off of that ugly little head of yours?", a bully called out. Kon may not have been around, but he knew of the people that have a problem with Ichigo just over his hair. Putting on his best scowl, which though scary, not as scary as Ichigo's trademark scowl, Kon turned to look the bully right in the eyes. Kon estimated about a gang of 5 with the talker out in front.

"What was that?", Kon asked dangerously.

"Well I think we can put in deaf too. I said-", he was cut off by a foot in his face that seemed to materialize out of nowhere. The other gang member's eyes widen at the seemingly impossible speed. In less than the blink of an eye, Kon shifted to another member and jacked his jaw with a kick under his chin. The other three shook off their shock and started charging Kon. The first unlucky victim threw a wide punch which Kon easily ducked under and hit him three times, once at his stomach, once on his lower side ribs, and then a knee to the side of the head as the bully fell sideways knocking him out almost instantly. The next bully was slow, allowing Kon to plant his feet and give a roundhouse kick that landed squarely on the side of his head. But he was a tough one and got back up. Before Kon could follow up, the last bully charged and put Kon in a full nelson, holding him down. Seizing the opportunity, the tough bully ran for a punch but was surprised when Kon jumped and landed both feet on his chest and flip over the other bully. Once behind, Kon pushed the bully next to the other. Side by side, the bullies were in position. Kon ran as fast as he could with both of his arms spread out, giving them the strongest clothline they will ever experience.

Looking around, 4 out of the 5 bullies were down and out, with the loud bully getting up. Once up, he pulled out a pocketknife and waved it threateningly at Kon. He charged Kon, but Kon just caught his fist, spreading the fingers so they won't get caught, and move the fist to the side so the bully can clearly see the ease he did this act on his face.

"Don't try this again, or you'll end up worse than what you are now.", and Kon punched him square on the bridge of the nose, breaking it. Laying on the ground holding a bleeding and broken nose, the bully looked up in time to see Kon stand over him and say, "The next time you want to get my attention, try calling me Ichigo, you pathetic scum.", and the world faded to black for the bully.

After straightening himself out and grabbing his bag, Kon decided that he still wanted to see how fast he can make it to the house. Turning around to the direction the house was, Kon started doing some test jumps that would make a basketball player jealous. After a couple were done, Kon was ready to make his mad dash.

"Hey! You there, with the orange hair. Did you do this?" With a vein throbbing on his head, Kon turned around to see…a cop car. With one of the cops talking into the radio quickly while the other stepped out of the car. "Do not move.", the cop yelled out the words individually. Not going to happen. Kon took off to the left of him. No way a normal human could keep up with a person like Kon. But after making another turn, Kon found some more cops that have seemed to have been alerted to the speedy teen. Kon started running again until he arrived on a main street. Looking behind him, the cops chasing on foot were way behind. Looking around on the street, he spotted the same cop car just made a turn towards Kon. Evidently, the car spotted him too, turning on the sirens and pulling closer to him.

_Damn it._ Normally, Kon would just use his jumping abilities to jump on the roof of a house, and then speed to Ichigo's house by jumping over ally-ways and streets. But such acts were impossible in human standards and would undoubtedly draw attention to Ichigo when he came back. But it wasn't impossible for humans to do cool stunts that allowed them to get from one point to another quicker. He believed they called it freerunning, or parkour. Though he couldn't just jump straight up on the roof, he could still climb up. Some yelling alerted Kon to the group of police that were starting to close in on Kon as well as the car pulling up on the curb not to far off with the cops coming up.

Moving quickly, Kon climbed to the top of a stop light. There was a powerline running a few feet over it. Thinking it might be within a human's capacity to make the jump, Kon jumped up and grabbed the line, moving to the power pole with his hands. The cops down below just looked on in wonder as they followed him on the ground. Once to the pole, Kon maneuvered around the generators and climbed to the very top of the pole. He wouldn't need the extra height to make it to the balcony of the run down building about 3 to 4 feet from the pole, but a human would. Without hesitation, Kon jumped just short enough to look like he's about to come up short until he reached out both hands to grab the edge and pull himself up. The cops down on the sidewalk were astounded.

_Did you see that!/That was amazing!/How did he do it?, _and more remarks were heard from the group of cops. Then, out of all the ruckus, one cop had the sense of duty to say, "What are we standing around for, after him!"

After making the climb, Kon traveled through the broken down hallways and corridors in the rundown building. From the looks of it, it was probably a hotel at one point in time. Now though, it was on the verge of collapse.

"Where is he?/This way!/Follow me.", started to vibrate of the decaying walls. Kon groaned. _I never heard of human police working this hard on their kind of salary. _Kon started to run through the place, trying to find a set of stairs. While he was running, one of the cops got lucky and caught a glimpse of his orange hair.

"That way!" Looking over his shoulder, Kon saw around 4 cops chasing him with another few starting to give chase. Rounding a right turn, Kon saw a gap on the floor ahead. Well, gap wouldn't really explain it as completely missing about 5 feet of the floor would. It wasn't a problem to Kon, but it would definitely scare the cops into a stop. And to add to the fear was the fact that, from what Kon could guess, they were on the 4th floor. Already, some of the cops were starting to slow down to fear. Smirking, Kon jumped across the hole and easily cleared it. He couldn't slow down fast enough to stop himself hitting the wall that was right after the hole though and the decaying wall almost immediately gave away, throwing Kon into one of the hotel rooms. The crash was enough to alert any cops that wasn't chasing him. Also, surprising Kon, one of the cops actually had the courage to jump and make it. Getting up, Kon looked around. There was a big hole in the wall, showing the street below, and a hole on the ceiling, near the wall. _That's my way out._

Behind him, one of the cops reached the doorway. He looked around 6'1 and had light brown, wavy hair of medium length that ended at the middle of his neck, and piercing, silver eyes. He also had a shadow, that wasn't thick, but thick enough that the color showed on his face, even on a distance. He didn't look like a native from Japan. Pulling out a tazer gun(or something like that), he yelled, "This is as far as you go! Lay down and put your hands behind your head." After saying this, he touched the radio on his shoulder, "I got him trapped on the forth floor, room 212, left wing. Apprehending him now." He never took his eyes off Kon and kept his tazer gun trained on him. Kon moved slowly, made a motion like he was going to cooperate by raising his hands. Then, as quick as lightning, Kon flew in motion, using his mod soul abilities to accelerate his run. Jumping, Kon planted one foot on the wall and used his little experience of controlling reishi particles to prevent his foot from going through the wall, kicked, twisted midair, and grabbed the edge of the hole, pulling himself up. As soon as Kon moved, the officer shot his tazer gun, but Kon was to fast.

Cursing, he thought, _I'd never seen somebody move so fast before. _Looking at the wall he jumped off of, he inspected the hole that his foot left when he kicked, _At the speed he was going, when he planted his foot the whole wall should've came down, not just this little hole._ He looked over it once more. Sighing, he got up, about to report that he's on the next floor. He didn't have to, however, as a fellow cop appeared on the doorway. He did look native, with a military cut and clean shave. Nothing really seemed to stand out. He was one of those people that you meet once, and wouldn't clearly remember his face. Looking around, he didn't see an orange headed teen.

"I thought you said you had him?", he asked in a cruel tone.

"I did, but he jumped off the wall and climbed up through the hole on the ceiling.", he replied smoothly.

Snorting, he said, "Yeah, whatever. That's just what happens when we get an officer from the states. Had it been me or someone from here, then that wouldn't have happened." Grabbing his own radio, he reported, "Runner still on the loose, 5th floor." Giving one last scowl at the other man, he left, leaving an agitated cop behind.

After pulling himself up off the floor, Kon started to run around again, still trying to find a way out. There wasn't much difference between the two floors that Kon traveled through so far. Not much time had passed between the situation Kon was just in to now, and he already started hearing voices. It still wasn't a bad situation as far as Kon was concerned, but he had to play ordinary, albeit very athletic, human, so he was getting a little stressed. Kon found that he actually enjoyed doing all of the jumping and climbing that he was doing. Maybe after this was over, he would go out and find places like this to climb. After wandering around, Kon wandered into a bar of some sorts. Well, it seemed like this was a luxury hotel because it was actually a big room with flaking wallpaper. Luckily, there was a stairwell at the wall on the other side of the room. Running over to the door, Kon pushed through it and into the stairwell.

"He's there!" _You've got to be kidding me!_ The stairs were short, maybe up one level, and they only went up, so up he went.

Once got to the end of the stairs, Kon opened the door that went into a hallway. At the end of the hallway was another door. The only thing though, there were holes all over the floor and walls. There seemed to be a sequence though. There was a just short distance between that and a large, gagged gap, but still jumpable. After that, exposed piping both vertical and horizontal lay on concrete slabs that were the floor and wall. That was also followed by another gap, one to large for even an athletic human to cross. He was now up about 6 stories off the ground, so a fall would most likely kill a normal human. Just the spot he was standing on seemed to sink a little lower than the rest of the floor, and others seemed to flake away even while Kon was looking at it.

Taking a deep breath, Kon started with _Lets get this over with._ Carefully advancing, Kon stepped lightly to test the weight that the floor could safely support. Busy concentrating on carefully making his way through the hall, Kon didn't notice the group of police behind the door that he closed after making up here.

"Freeze!" _Oh, screw it!_ And with that thought, he rushed forward, easily jumping across the gap, though he shortened the clearance for it to seem humanly possible. Rolling as he hit the floor, Kon jumped back up, already looking for pipes the jump on to get across. A whizzing sound passed by the side of his face. Looking back, he saw that some of the cops had their guns out, trying to shoot him down. _What's with these guys? _Focusing in front of him, Kon started jumping on the pipes to get across.

The cops temporarily stopped their shooting to witness in amazement at the grace and balance that the teen seemed to be effortlessly performing. The cop that had Kon for a second and the other that came by after Kon jumped to the next floor came up. They also looked on at the acrobatics that the teen did, but they recovered more quickly than the others.

"Think you can follow him, Jackson? Come on, show me what the states can do.", said the other cop, taking off after him. He jumped across the gap without hesitation. The now named cop, Jackson, was reasonably hesitant. Jumping over obstacles on rotten floors that were high enough that he would be a stain on the ground underneath wasn't what he signed up for. _Than again, neither was this forced transfer._ Steeling his resolve, he too, rushed forward, clearing the gap. None of the others followed, but they abandoned firing their weapons.

Kon was just about across the pipes, swinging and jumping from pole to pole. When he landed on the floor, he noticed some sounds of footsteps and turned around. He saw two cops also crossing while the rest just stood, watching. The one closer to him he didn't recognize, but he did recognize the one further from him, the one that almost caught him. Signing, Kon turned back around to the last part of the wreaked hall. The only way across that would seem humanly possible would be to wall run. But he wouldn't make it all the way, so he would have to jump to the other wall and finish his way across that way. Running as fast as that woman that kicked Kon when he was running away from the Kurosaki house, Kon jumped on the wall, not even breaking stride as he crossed half the hall and jumped across to the other side and make it to the end. Kon jumped at the end of his wall run and landed on the floor by the door. The group of cops at the other end actually cheered and shouted words of relief. Without even looking back, Kon when through the door, seeing another flight of stairs that went to the roof.

After making the jump, Jackson proceeded to crossing the pipes. The teen made it look so easy. Both he and the other cop had difficulty making it through, but they were progressing. He seen what the teen just did. He enjoyed playing video games of all types. But very rarely does he come across a character that can freerun as fluently as this kid was doing. _Hell, he's doing better than a video game._ The other cop finally made it across. He seemed to hesitate for a second as he looked ahead of him. How could he really think he could just attempt what that teen just did and actually do it? That was amazing, but that required a level of athleticism that was to high for even athletes. Suddenly, he took off for the wall. Jackson made it to the floor just in time to see him also wall run. He did everything exactly like the teen, even jump across to the other wall and make it to the door. _He can do it. No way in hell can I do it._ The cop turned around, gave a smug grin and said, "Don't even try, s.a. Do dangerous for the likes of you." He then walked through the door, going up the steps.

The comment just flicked a new fire within Jackson, as he took off for the wall as well. Running as fast as he could, Jackson jumped for the wall. He wasn't as smooth as the other two, and was already going down before he even came close to the end of the wall. _Not good!_ Thinking as fast as he could, time seemed to slow down for him. He couldn't see anyway for him across. He was about to fall to his death. Looking up, he saw a chandelier, somehow still hanging on the ceiling. In a last ditch effort, Jackson kicked off as hard as he could and propelled himself to it. The kick was to much for the decaying wall and even the support as the whole section of wall fell to the ground and the overhead support beam cracked dangerously. It looked ready to fall any second. But it held long enough for him to get to the chandelier. Using the momentum, Jackson grabbed the Chandelier and swung his legs forwards to give him more speed. The chandelier wasn't going to have any of it as right after he let go after swinging, it and the piece of support beam it held on to broke and fell. The beam collapsed in on itself, causing both sides of the building to fall towards each other. The group of cops at the entrance frantically found something to hold on to while others ran through the door.

Jackson landed on the tilted floor. The floor sported spider web cracks that spread out from the landing of his feet. _Damn it!_ He tried to crawl up the floor to the door, but the floor gave away and Jackson had to scramble and jump and extended as far as his body would allow for the door. Luckily, the door opened as the building continued to slowly fall towards the other slowly collapsing building. Stretching as far as he could, Jackson's hand closed around the knob, his other hand grabbing the other just as quickly. The buildings finally collided, giving a loud 'boom' and sudden stop of the movement. The combination of catching himself on it and sudden stop caused the top hinge of the door to pop off of the wall and tilt ominously forward. Reacting quickly, he swung his legs forward and reached for the ledge with his left hand. Catching it with one hand and hanging for a second, he reached his other hand up and pulled himself up and on the floor. Slowly pulling himself up on his feet, he looked back to the former hallway, tilting far back to balance the tilt of the floor. He saw the other cops were uninjured and in a good enough state of mind to get off the floor as quickly as possible. Calming his racing heart, he started up the awkward stairs to the roof. _This kid just ain't worth it! Practically took down the entire building trying to get this guy._

Tatsuki and Orihime made it to their own apartments after a long, long walk home from school. They would've been there sooner had Orihime not practically drag Tatsuki to every store they had along the way. Just as they were about to walk into Orihime's apartment, they heard a loud crash and deep rumbling sound. They both looked at the cloud of dust that was rising from the direction of the sounds. "Do you think they've finally started demolition for that eyesore of a hotel?", Tatsuki asked Orihime.

"No, there's a specific spiritual pressure there. It feels like…Kon!" Right at Orihime's exclamation of the name, a head of orange popped out amongst the dust.

"What's that idiot doing! He's going to get himself killed! Let's go Orihime.", Tatsuki yelled angrily. Orihime just nodded.

Kon made it to the roof. The building seemed to fall sideways and Kon almost crashed though the wall, literally. He was aware that the cop that just started climbing the steps was on his back as well.

_What the hell! Are they trying to bring the whole building down! I can't believe this!_ Trying to regain his balance, Kon slowly made his way up the stairs. His patience was really starting to run out. He just got rid of some bullies and now, he was about at the roof of a collapsing building. Right before he made it to the door, the building crashed to a halt, which was followed by a loud 'boom' sound. Really starting to get agitated by being thrown around like such, Kon forcefully kicked open the door, said door flying a good ways away. It was dark now, the stars starting to glow their bright lights. Looking around, the roof was surprisingly intact. No holes, no decaying. And to top it off, the building next to it was within human jumping distance. Kon was about to jump when he was tackled to the ground. After a brief struggle, Kon was able to see the man that had attacked him. It was the cop.

"Whoa, hang on there! You thought you could outrun police huh? I guess you can think again, and trust me, you're gonna have a lot of time to think where you're going.", he said in a sarcastic tone. Though sarcastic, the cruelty was certain.

Kon, being on his back with the cop over him, threw his head forward, effectively dazing both of them, though the cop was still on top. Planting his feet flat on the ground, Kon pushed up. The sudden motion threw the cop forward, off of Kon. Kon quickly got up, but was decked across the face by the surprisingly quick cop, falling to the ground again. The cop got on him again, putting a pair of handcuff on him. He stood up, keeping a foot on his back.

"Clever, but not smart. Stay put while I call for assistance getting down this corpse of a building. I can't believe you single-handedly took down this _entire _building.", he said with a suggestive tone. That took Kon for a trip.

"Wait, you're blaming me for all the damage to this place?", eyes wide.

"Yep. I don't have the money in my paycheck to compensate for the damages. Parents are gonna give you hell when you get back, huh?", he said with a sneer. As he started reporting whatever he was saying, a howl sounded over his voice. The cop didn't seem to notice. He wouldn't, based on what Kon knew what it was. _A hollow…shit._ Kon started to inconspicuously move his legs to set up for a quick lurch forward. When Kon was ready, the cop finished talking and looked back down to Kon.

"That was some pretty impressive stunts you pulled back there. Where did you learn how to do that? Are there any other troublemakers around town that you know? Answer me all the right answers and you might get less time.", he inquired, foot still on him. "Or you-", he didn't finish as he was thrown back to the ground as Kon sprung forward and ran faster than a rocket, using some of his special abilities to accelerate even faster. Running up the slanted roof of the collapsed building, Kon ran for the highest part of the roof. It was where he was going to jump earlier before he got tackled. There was a building about two stories below and about 15 feet away. After Kon landed, however, he had to take care of the newly arrived hollow.

Jumping at the edge, he had an idea. While in the air, Kon pulled both arms down and brought his legs up to his chest. He was going to bring the handcuffs under and in front. He was losing time as he was crashing to the ground quick so he hurried. With a final strain, he finally got the handcuffs out in front of him. He hit the roof of the other building, landing in a roll, which he quickly got out of and felt for the hollow. In doing so, he also felt Orihime and Tatsuki coming in his direction. Then, they stopped, and headed for the hollow's instead. Kon got up. The handcuffs won't be a problem, he fought with his legs anyway. He started for the door on the roof to go down the flights of stairs to help.

"Damn it!", the cop that had Kon yelled. _I've had enough, he's going down. _He got up, reaching for his gun when the unexpected happened. The teen jumped. "Hey!" He doubted that he heard it. Running to the ledge, he stopped when he saw Jackson burst through the door. He looked around, finally looking at the other cop and asked, "I thought you said you had him? If it would've been someone from the states, than this wouldn't of happened.", he said with a smile.

"Fuck you Jackson. I did have him, he just jumped.", he replied, glaring at him the whole time.

"Really now? Why don't you follow him? You did when he got across the hallway."

"That was because I could do it. I can't make and land a jump like that.", he said, as he watched the teen run into the building. The whole time they were talking, they were walking to the ledge.

"You know, Azubuki, hesitation and cowardice are bad traits.", he said as he walked to the other side of the roof. The cop, Azubuki, was radioing the other cops, saying he was at the other building. Once finished, Azubuki turned around and was about to reply when the figure of Jackson raced past him. Azubuki turned in time to see Jackson jump the ledge. He also ran forward, but unlike the American, stayed by the ledge. Jackson seemed stiff as he fell. Once he started to fall downwards, he started to brace himself for the impact of hitting the ground. He also entered a roll, one that kept going until his momentum stopped. He stayed on the ground for a moment, and then, slowly, got up. He had a light limp that straightened out as he kept moving. Soon, it would disappear. But he would be sore tomorrow, that was guaranteed. He reached for his radio, "Officer Jackson, in pursuit.", he said into it. With one last glance at Azubuki at the top of the other building, he also went into the building.

Kon make it to the second floor about to descended another level until he heard footsteps and shouted commands down there. About to shout out in frustration, Kon just ran through the door that led to the 2nd floor. The building was an apartment building, raggedy and in need of repair. Their was a window at the end of the hall. Running to it, Kon opened it up and saw a window under the one he just opened. He jumped out, holding on to the windowsill. "He's over there, by the window!" Without further initiative, Kon dropped.

He grabbed the windowsill with some difficulty before he started picking up real speed. After that, he dropped again, to the alleyway. There was a 10ft high fence in his way between the alleyway and the street. Kon would normally jump straight up and over the fence, but that was impossible for a human to do. His next option would be to climb the thing, but that was also impossible due to the fact that he was handcuffed. Looking around, Kon saw a dumpster that was close enough to the fence to jump from and clear the fence. Running, he jumped, landed on the dumpster, kept running, and took a long jump that cleared the fence with room to spare. Once he landed on the sidewalk, he ran down to the park that the hollow, Orihime, and Tatsuki were.

Jackson reached the second floor the same time some more cops reached it. He questioned them, and they said that the teen was on the second floor. He heard a shout, and that was why he rushed over to the second floor, but then thought better and ran to the front entrance. If this kid taught any of them anything tonight, it was that he can perform miraculous feats and keep going. If he was out by the window, he was gonna get to the ground. He ran out of the entrance and looked around in the street. He looked to his left and saw the teen; orange was hard to miss, even with the darkness amongst them. He gave chase. He wasn't a slow person by any means, but this teen just seemed to be faster, which was a wonder how he could seeing as he couldn't use his arms for proper running form. Jackson was about to stop when he was a lone driver at a stop light. He didn't even care what car it was, he was just happy to have a breather and a way to track him. Running to the door, he flashed his badge and yelled, "Get out of the car! This is police business and you will be the car back." Unlike what he was used to, the man in the car, middle-aged, got out without question. It seemed as though he said, _here take it, don't even worry about taking care of it._ Stepping into the relatively clean car, Jackson took a turn left. It was the last thing he saw the teen do before confiscating the car. He caught him taking a right. Jackson wasn't here for long, but he knew that there was a park in that direction. But, why would he go there?

Tatsuki and Orihime were halfway there when they heard the howl of a hollow. Looking at each other, they decided that Kon could handle himself and changed directions to the park where the hollow was. Jogging to the park, Tatsuki asked Orihime, "Can you handle it?"

Orihime smiled to herself. Tatsuki was always protecting her. "Yes, I'm sure I can handle it.", she replied with a bubbly tone and cheerful smile. Tatsuki was unsure for a moment, but she then gave a small smile of her own.

"And your not worried about Kon? He's in Ichigo's body you know."

"Knowing him, he wouldn't let anything happen to Ichigo's body. And, if he does mess up, than it'll give me a chance to practice my healing.", with the same tone and expression, but a little less intense. Only someone like Tatsuki would see the difference. "Were almost there, get ready Tatsuki.", she said in a sudden serious tone. Tatsuki just nodded. Rounding the corner of the block, they entered the park, feeling for the hollow. He seemed to be hiding it, though it would still be detectable by any other soul reaper. Suddenly, upon seeing two humans, the hollow just jumped out in front of them on the pathway.

"Hah! Lucky/me getting/two higher/than average/spiritually aware/humans for/dinner.", it said in multiple tones and voices. Like he was saying the sentence in stages, and each stage was a different tone and voice. (Thus the slashes) He was a worm like hollow, with a grey body but with muscular arms that were completely black up to the shoulder. It had long, straight blond hair that started behind and above the mask. The mask itself was of no distinction, just white with teeth and eye holes. The upper body was muscular that contained it's hollow hole. It had no legs.

It attacked, giving a frontal charge. Tatsuki already moved, but Orihime was frozen, shivering where she stood. _I know it isn't him, and he's different in a lot of places…But…he looks so much like him…_

Cursing, Tatsuki jumped back just in time to throw a kick at the hollow's wrist, moving it to the side just enough that it missed Orihime by a few inches. "You/Bitch!" It grabbed her by the arm and threw her to a field by it's left. She slid a good 10 yards, which for a human was very painful. She was still sliding when she came to an abrupt halt. Once she got orientated with her mental directions, she looked up to see orange and brown. "Ichigo?" Ichigo's face just smiled.

"Nope. Kon.", he was going to add something else when she hastily interrupted him.

"You idiot! Go rescue Orihime! The hollow is about to eat her!" Kon didn't need to hear anymore as, for the first time that day, ran as fast as he could toward the worm-like hollow.

"Now, where/were we?" It turned towards Orihime and the mask seemed to smile. Orihime was still frozen. In her eyes, the hollow had traded places with her brother, like what she did when Ichigo looked at her for the first time when he had his mask on. _Not again…_ The hollow was in front of her, leaning over about to consume her. _I don't think I can do this…_ Suddenly, the hollow's face and head jerked to the right, a footprint cracked on his mask. The rest of the body followed the head and the hollow rocketed threw the trees into a playground. Orihime finally looked in front of her, seeing Ichigo. No, not Ichigo, Kon. He gave her a winning smile. "You okay princess."

Orihime blushed at the statement. Not at the statement, though she would've blushed at that also, but the smiling face in front of her. It's been a dream that she put down as a silly fantasy, but some of it in a way was being fulfilled in that moment. See Ichigo truly smile, and not at anybody, but at her. The fact that it was Kon didn't escape her, but the face was his, and it was like a preview of what can happen. After a few more moments, she regained herself. She's in a battle ground, thoughts like that had no place here.

"ah, yeah. Yeah! I'm okay.", she finished with a smile. The hollow finally rose from the pond, looking at the new arrival.

"Who/are/you." The last part, both voices were present.

"Your purifier.", Kon said with a scowl. The hollow looked at Kon for a few more seconds before it threw it head back in a roar of laughter. Either voice individually would've be creepy enough, but with both, it sent constant chills to both teens. Once the laughter died, the hollow looked on and said.

"You are/not a/soul reaper/boy. I wondered/how you/kicked me/so hard,/but that/other girl/did kick/my arm/away, so/that must/mean you're/strong. Perfect./You'll make/a great/appetizer. Come on.", it rose it's arms and moved it's fingers in a way that said 'come on'. Kon gladly took the challenge and charged. Orihime then saw that Kon had a pair of handcuffs on. _He's gonna need help. _

The hollow was taken aback at how fast Kon was. It was impossible for a human to run so fast. Kon jumped up, but he didn't seem like he was attacking. Seizing the opportunity, the hollow swung it's left arm at him. Then, a yellow platform appeared underneath him, and he got an extra jump, going over the hollow's arm. Kon landed on the elbow and he sprinted to his face. Right in front of him, he gave a spinning kick and cracked him in-between the eyes. It hurt, but the hollow brought his right hand up and tried to swat him away while the boy started to fall. Another platform, this one to the side, stopped his attack. Once Kon landed on solid ground, he looked back at Orihime, giving a nod of approval and thanks. She just gave her bubbly smile in return. Kon jumped back as the hollow brought his left hand down where he was standing. Kon contemplated his next move when his arms suddenly fell to his sides, causing a great deal of pain as they did. His arms were so sore. Looking behind him, he saw Orihime giving another smile and the handcuffs on the ground in pieces. He didn't use his arms a lot in combat, but it would help in mobility and power. He smirked. The hollow had no chance.

Jackson stopped by the park. He heard noises, and none of them sounded pleasant. There was a lot of rumbling, and a weird howl around there. He didn't know one animal that made a sound such as this. Getting out, he pulled out his pistol and radioed his location. Once that was done, he cautiously walked into the park, senses on full alert. He saw a teen, female with black hair, slowly getting up in the middle of a field. She was battered and bruised and it must've been painful, but she had a determined face as she proceeded to try and get up. She didn't seem to notice him. He changed course to her. If he could get information on the activities of the park, he would know what he's dealing with. Emerging from the path and walking to her, she finally noticed him. Her expression seemed panicked a little, but then calmed to a blank look.

"What happened to you? Were y-"

"You need to get away from here, now. Trust me, you're not safe here.", she said in a almost monotone voice. What was she talking about?

"I'm not safe? Look at you, struggling to get up and from the looks of it, in a lot of pain. And you're safe and I'm not? I'm calling an ambulance. While it's coming, I want to know what's going on here.", just as he reached for his radio, a howl distracted him. For a moment, he didn't move. She seemed to have heard it too, but she didn't give any reaction to it. "Did you hear that?" Her face shot to his with a shocked look on her face. He wondered why she had that look.

"You can hear it too?" This got her a puzzled look. Something as loud and as chilling as that would be hard to miss. Slowly, he nodded his head, looking at her carefully. She seemed to be amazed. Another howl shook him and he swirled to the direction of the sound.

"Look, stay here. Do not move. I'm gonna check it out an-"

"No! Don't go over there. You wouldn't understand and it's to dangerous.", she said with an almost angry look. Thinking about what he did in just this one night, an animal that he never seen before that was dangerous wouldn't really surprise him. Why is she so dead set to stop him from going? And who is she to command a police officer? Thinking over it once more, he looked at her and said, "If it's something dangerous to the people of this town, then I must stop it."

"This isn't something that _you_ can stop. Trust me, it's gonna be over soon." Jackson shook his head.

"If it's gonna be over soon, then I must be there to see that it is.", and without listening more to the teen, he started running his tired body over to the noise.

"I'm gonna/kill you!", the hollow yelled. It charged forward, both arms out. Kon ran and jumped to it's chin. He gave a strong kick that forced the hollow up in the air, it's back to the ground. He then jumped in the air and kicked him hard on the back that forced him higher. Kon hit the ground and jumped with a little extra power to get to the hollow. Once there, he grabbed him by the neck with his legs and twisted, breaking his neck, and then leaned back and threw the hollow back down to the ground. The hollow hit the ground hard, but it was still in one piece and moving. He got up sluggishly, seeing Orihime, it charged her, trying to devour her. Kon was still in the air, unable to help. "Orihime!", he yelled. Not even flinching, Orihime said, "Souten Kishun!" A shield appeared in front of her, and stopped the weakening hollow. Looking the hollow in the eyes, she said, "I reject."

A flying light came out of her hairpins and zig-zaged in the air before changing course and hitting the hollow at the top of the mask and continued down to the bottom of his chin. Before the hollow started to disintegrate, Kon landed an axe kick right on the split, making the mask collapse and the hollow disintegrated instantly.

Catching his breath, Kon looked at Orihime and asked, "You okay?" She took a deep breath, and then looked up at him and smiled, "Yes, thank you."

Kon smiled. "Come on, let's get Tatsuki and get out of here. I had an evening that you wouldn't believe.", he said while walking away.

"Like being on top of a collapsing building?", Orihime asked, still smiling. Kon twitched and hunched forward. He turned and asked with a sheepish grin, "You knew about that?" Orihime nodded. She started to walk also. "Me and-"

"What in the world was that?"

Kon and Orihime turned around, ready to attack if need be. Then a cop stepped out in the clearing. He looked shocked and confused. He also had a gun pointed at the two. "Who, what are you? What was that? W-", he stopped when the orange-headed boy who he relentlessly chased around town appeared in front of him, hand on the gun. He didn't have any idea what happened next as the boy's knee contacted with his gut, knocking him out cold.

Carefully laying him down, Kon grabbed his radio and said, "Officer down, at a park." He looked at his name tag. "Officer A. Jackson." He looked at Orihime, who was surprised at what she saw. "Well, he had a gun pointed at you, I couldn't let that happen.", Kon said honestly. Orihime blushed again. Then she remembered about Tatsuki. "Let's go get Tatsuki.", and she started walking at a quicker pace than before. Kon just followed her. When they got to Tatuski, Kon didn't even ask as he just swept her up and carried her to Orihime's place. Tatsuki gave a world of protests, but when she wasn't put down, she moved to threats and promised pain like Kon would never forget. Kon just smiled the whole time. She also warned Kon about getting any perverted ideas while he carried her. Kon again just smiled.

Once they got there, Kon put Tatsuki down, Tatsuki immediately slugging Kon across the mouth. He rubbed his jaw, exclaiming, "What the hell? I help you home and that's what I get in return?" Tatsuki just smirked and kicked him in the ribs.

"Hope you weren't expecting anything else." She would've continued but Orihime said no, so she stopped.

"It's late guys. We should let Kon get home so Ichigo won't have to look for him when he gets back.", Orihime just smiled sheepishly when Kon started saying how kind and innocent she was. That was followed with Tatsuki hitting him again. After a while, Kon was finally able to leave. He was tired, but he was also tired of playing human without running his maximum speed or jumping ability. He jumped on the roof of a building. Seeing the Kurosaki household, Kon mapped a course to it through the streets. He jumped down. _Ready. Get set. Go!_ Kon ran as fast as he could through the streets. Had a person been on the street that Kon was running through, they would've seen a blur followed by a strong wind. Taking the last turn, Kon came to a sliding halt in front of the door. _Oh yeah._ He sobered up and gave his best scowl. Walking through the door, Kon yelled, "I'm home." Yuzu was cleaning the Kitchen while Karin was watching TV. Just like always. He expected to have to subdue Isshin, but the attack never came. "Where's dad?"

"Somewhere, I don't know.", Karin said, not taking her eyes off the TV.

"Aren't you a little worried Karin? He might be hurt or…", she say Kon for the first time that night and her eyes widened. Kon can practically feel her eyes scanning every broken end and stressed spot of fabric that made up Ichigo's school uniform. With a shake of her head that was meant to break her out of her surprise, Yuzu asked, "Ichigo, what happened to you? You're a mess! Did you get into a fight again? Oh, why can't they ever leave you alone?", at her mourning, Karin took her eyes off of the TV set to look at Kon as well.

"Wow, I thought she was exaggerating but, they really did a number on you, Ichigo." Kon was starting to get annoyed with the big deal they were making about this. It was only clothes and a few scratches on his hands. Ichigo probably got a lot of those on a daily basis and yet they still made a big deal about it.

In an effort to turn the conversation, Kon asked, "So, dad isn't here. Ok, well hope he's okay. I'm going to my room.", and he promptly turned and proceeded to Ichigo's room.

As he walked into Ichigo's room, the exhaustion of the day's events really started to take effect as Kon laid down on the bed. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Groaning and getting up, Kon opened the door. On the other side, Isshin was standing there. He walked into the room, without waiting to be invited in.

"Close the door, Kon." Kon was no secret to Isshin. He noticed every time he was used. "So, where did Ichigo get off to this time?", he asked.

"The Soul Society. Rukia came to 'escort' him to Head-Captain Yamamoto. Don't know why though.", Kon answered. Isshin seemed to contemplate this, but then he seemed to give a sad smile.

"I can't believe they're actually going through with it."

"Mind if I ask what that would be?", Kon asked, honestly curious.

"Well, it's a rumor, and hasn't been confirmed, but I guess it won't hurt to tell."

Kon was surprised. He would already know what Ichigo's answer would be as the other choice would go against everything that Ichigo stood for, but it was still an undesirable situation. It also spelled disaster for Kon himself too. They ordered his demise a long time ago. They're back.

Yo, SLR here. Got some things to point out.

The bond between Ichigo and Chad was witnessed during the Soul Society arc, where Chad fought Kyouraku and lost. Ichigo said he could always feel when Chad was okay and felt when he lost.

Yes, Ichigo has the long hair when he faced Aizen. No, he isn't going to cut it. I thought he looked more badass with it.

The freerunning Kon did in the chapter with the cops chasing him was the most fun to write on this chapter! I was always like, "That would be so badass to do during a run from the cops." I like freerunning and parkour, think it should be a national competition.

Jackson will be a part of the story.

So, tell me what you think of this chapter and see you soon.


	2. Chapter 2

_Italics: Flashbacks, Thoughts._

_Italics with underline_ Zangetsu

**Bold=** Inner Hollow

Chapter 2: Orders From Central 46

Ichigo never really enjoyed crossing the Dangai. It looked creepy. It had weird sucking sounds that most likely came from the walls and whatever sort of goo that fell over them. And to make things worse, the stupid, homicidal bullet train just always seemed to come just as Ichigo was making his entrance. The only thing that Ichigo remembered that he was actually grateful for was when he and his father came and Ichigo learned the 'Final Getsuga Tensho'. It caused him to access immense power and defeat Aizen shortly after. Once Ichigo and Rukia exited the Dangai and entered the Rukon District, they flash-stepped over to the gate. They weren't really conversing, and Ichigo, getting tired of the silence, tried to find a topic to start a conversation. He couldn't really think of anything, so he started to look around. Nothing he saw really struck the inspiration for him to start a conversation. Running out of options, Ichigo looked at Rukia to see if she changed any in the last 17 months. She still looked the same, more or less. Short stature, midnight black hair, deep violet eyes, the new Lieutenant badge on her left arm, the sheath for her zanpakuto still in the same spot…wait. Lieutenant badge?

"Hey Rukia, where did you get that badge? It looks like the ones lieutenants wear. Did you get promoted or something?", Ichigo asked while pointing at the badge. Rukia was so shocked at his stupidity, she literally stumbled on her own collected spiritual pressure under her feet. She regained her balance and looked at Ichigo. After a few moments, she motioned with her hand for him to come closer. Ichigo leaned closer to her gesture, and once in range, got a strong fist straight in the face that launched him to the ground.

In the shallow crater that resulted with Ichigo slamming into the ground, Ichigo was holding his nose and looking at the irate Rukia with wide eyes. _How the hell did she get so strong? And what the fuck was that for?_ A flash-step that was faster than Ichigo remembered Rukia ever performing was heard and Rukia materialized in front of him. She had a vein slightly popping out the side of her skull.

"I know you're dim, Ichigo, but how in the world are you so stupid as to not recognize a Lieutenant badge?", she said with clenched fist and grinding teeth.

Raising his hands up in defense, he replied, "I just thought that you wouldn't get promoted, that's all. I-", _Smash!_ to the face. "What the hell?", Ichigo said, though it was muffed with his two hands covering his face.

"Oh, so now I'm weak, eh? You know, I can keep this up all day.", Rukia started cracking her knuckles menacingly. Ichigo paled.

"No, that's not it. Just, after what I heard what Byakuya was doing, I-"

"What my brother was doing? What was big brother doing?" Ichigo gulped. How was he to get out of this? With the situation that Ichigo was in at the moment, he's just choosing his poison. Tell and get shredded to ribbons, or don't and freeze for eternity. Ichigo was desperately thinking of a solution while Rukia was eyeing him suspiciously.

"_Play to her sense of pride. Remind her of the task at hand and maybe she will drop her suspicions, at least temporarily.",_ Old Man Zangetsu said. Ichigo mentally thanked him while relaying the message.

"Oh, you're right! I'm not making a good impression by being failing a simple escort mission. We must hurry to make for lost time. Get up.", she said with a worrying look.

"Why so nervous? It's just a few minutes…", Ichigo said while getting up. There are times when you talk, and time when you don't. This was one of the latter times. Poor boy.

"What kind of question is that? I was just recently promoted to Lieutenant about a month ago, and this is my first assignment. I can't fail my first one!", Rukia said with a look like she was about to go and clobber him. Ichigo just backed down with hands raised, muttering 'alright, alright…' After this little incident, they again resumed flash-stepping to The Seireitei.

When they got to the gates, Judonbo was there, have a casual conversation with some of the Rukon District folk. The gentle smile showed just how much Judonbo really appreciated their company. He looked up and his gentle smile grew almost double. "Ichigo Kurosaki? What a pleasure! How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks.", Ichigo answered with a smile in return.

"And Lady Rukia, always an honor.", Judonbo said with a slight bow. Most would think it fake, but Judonbo isn't that kind of guy and it was literal. Rukia blushed at the show of respect. Being around Ichigo for all that time made her forget what family she belonged to. She quickly regained her dignity though, and gave a small smile in return.

"Please, it's just Rukia. And thank you.", she said.

"Well, if you ever got the time, come see me sometime, it's been awhile.", he said, stepping to the side. Ichigo and Rukia nodded and went through. When Ichigo thought about it, it has been awhile since he saw Judonbo. And Kukaku and Ganju. He hasn't even heard from Hanatoru since the situation with the Bounts. Maybe before he left, he would drop by and give them a visit. Shrugging off the thoughts, he focused back on why he was here. A lot of different things went through Ichigo's head as he tried to figure out what the Soul Society could want of him this time. The Soul Society didn't look like it was in a state of distress. In fact, it looked as peaceful as ever. Like when Rukia first described it to him when they first met. A peaceful, beautiful place.

"_Either of you have any ideas?"_

"_None."_

"**Nope.", **the two embodiments of Ichigo's power stated. After Ichigo finally recognized the hollow was as much his partner as Zangetsu, the hollow finally agreed to stop forcing control and the two over time built a fleeting trust, but a trust nonetheless. Though he and Zangetsu once shared a body, they decided to bypass that and let him exist on his own. This didn't mean the hollow was less battle hungry or sane. It was awkward at first, since every time he entered, he automatically tensed upon seeing his darker half. After a while, he finally could enter without suspicion, but was still alert.

"_Try deciphering what Kisuke Urahara said before you departed the living world. 'Welcome Ichigo. I look forward to seeing you in my office.''_

"_He doesn't really have any other shops around the Soul Society. I don't remember there being an office at his shop either, and I doubt that he would be organized and care enough to even set one up."_

"_You have a point. But what was he welcoming us to?"_

"**No point in trying to figure it out now, we're here. Might as well just find out the old-fashioned, getting told."**, the hollow said while walking to no particular part of the skyscraper that filled his inner world. He stopped, removed Zangetsu from his back, and opted to lay down. Zangetsu just stayed on his flagpole, per usual. Ichigo focused back on the outer world, noticing the buildings that were slightly smaller the last time he checked now practically rip the sky in half.

"Hey Ichigo, we're here.", Rukia said as they flash-stepped to the front door. Nodding, Ichigo started walking through the doors when he noticed Rukia staying behind.

"You coming?"

"My orders were to send you here and escort you to the Squad 1 barracks. I'm not authorized to-", she was cut off when Ichigo threw her over his shoulder and started to walk through the doors again. Fumbling over her wordsfor a moment and blushing madly, she finally let out a very loud, "What do you think you're doing! Put me down now!"

"If I can literally break just about every rule and law the Soul Society has in 1 weeks time, than you can at least break 1 damn rule once every hundred years and damn it, it's today. Hell, I'm breaking 2 laws just being here; being human and being a Vizard. So shut up about 'authority' and come inside already.", Ichigo said while walking to Head-Captain Yamamoto's office. It was comical really, to see a slightly taller-than-average guy walking with a shorter-than-average girl, who was struggling with no progress, draped over his shoulder and walk and seem as though she were weightless. Finally realizing how fruitless her struggle was, Rukia just sighed and sagged on his shoulder. The last time she was in this position, he threw her across Sokyoku Hill from the remains of the execution pillar at Renji. Though she was understandably pissed at the time, she could only smile at the memory now. Rukia heard the creaking of doors opening and realized that Ichigo was going to walk in Head-Captain Yamamoto's office without permission with her over his shoulder. And if the familiar spiritual pressure were any indicator, this was only going to get worse. She tried desperately one last time to get out of Ichigo's clutches to no avail.

"Hey gramps, what you need me for?" Rukia could've facepalmed at the obvious disrespect.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, what do you think your doing with Rukia?", Byakuya questioned, face stoic thought he couldn't stop the narrowing of his eyes, however slight.

"She was giving me some bullshit about not having 'authority' to come in here and I asked her to come with me. She didn't answer so I just grabbed her."

"You didn't ask me anything! You just threw me over your shoulder like a towel and took me against my will!"

"Same thing."

"Kurosaki, I'm going to ask only once. Put Rukia down.", Byakuya said threateningly.

"Fine. She's here, that's all I wanted to do." Ichigo put her down, just for Rukia to immediately drop to her knees and bow deeply.

"Head-Captain Yamamoto, Captain Kuchiki, please excuse me for my interruption. I was abducted and taken here by force. I will face whatever punishment you give me gracefully.", Rukia said formerly, working very hard not to kill Ichigo where he stood and working even harder when she saw Ichigo look away, cross his arms and mutter 'Girl Scout.'

"Rise, Lieutenant Kuchiki.", Yamamoto's voice stern and business-like. "Return to your squad, you are excused of your action." Rukia nodded and before flash-stepping away, shooting a pissed off glare at Ichigo which only doubled as he noticed it and smirked.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, what possessed you to barge into my office unannounced with a hostage?", Yamamoto asked though his voice made it seemed like he demanded an explanation. Ichigo mentally scoffed at the word 'hostage'.

"Hey, you're the one that asked for me to travel between realms just to talk. As for Rukia, she was uncooperative." Yamamoto scoffed himself, this one audible. Same old Kurosaki. That's good. It was relieving to know that the war hasn't changed him. Though as for his manners, that was something he wouldn't mind changing. While Yamamoto was thinking this, Ichigo decided to ask Byakuya, "So what are you doing here?"

Byakuya mentally cringed at the disrespect and had to fight the impulse of reaching for his zanpakuto. He would never get used to the disrespect that this human dealt to him. He remained silent for a moment before finally sighing and said, "Reporting on the condition of the 6th squad and it's affairs. Normally, I would have lieutenant Abari report, but he was injured in sparring and I had to transport both him and his sparing partner to squad 4 for treatment, and had to report myself.", Byakuya stated in one breath. Ichigo wasn't even surprised anymore when Byakuya made long statements in just one breath.

"Who was he going against?"

"3rd seat of the 11th squad Ikkaku Madarame." Ichigo nodded in understanding. Those two weren't ones to go easy and knowing them, they just kept egging each other on until they exhausted themselves. The head-Captain cleared his throat to get their attention.

"You are dismissed Captain Kuchiki.", said Captain just nodded and flash-stepped away. "You are correct in stating that your presence was requested, Kurosaki. Out of all your accomplishments as a substitute soul reaper over the pass year, there is one thing that even substitutes must complete to carry out any soul reaper duties. Without this requirement, you are not allowed to carry out the duties of a soul reaper. In fact, it's against the law. What is required, is The Soul Reaper Academy Sign of Approval. Due to recent events, we never had the time to enroll you to go through the academy. We would have enrolled you after Sosuke Aizen's betrayal, but the defections of three Captains and a weaken military force among other things were a more pressing matter than the education of a substitute. Now that there isn't anything threatening the welfare of the 13 Court Guard Squads and the World of the Living, and everything is in order, your education and enrollment can now be taken care of and we can move on. Any questions?"

Ichigo just had a blank face. That went way over his head. Yamamoto gave a silent sigh through his nostrils. "You must go through the Academy to continue your duties as a substitute, otherwise, you would be breaking another law. I shall ask again, any questions."

The shocked look on Ichigo's face was enough to tell the Head-Captain that he indeed have questions. Go through the academy? What kind of bullshit idea was that? What could he possibly learn from the academy that he didn't already know? What about his home? He can't let Kon run his body forever. What would his friends think about this? Surly this has to be a joke.

"Do I have any questions? Hell yeah I have some fucking questions! Wh-"

"This is an order by the newly instated Central 46. With them in control now, Martial Law is nullified and we have to obey their whims. If I still had the power, we wouldn't bother seeing you're as strong if not stronger than most of the Captains. But orders are orders and we will not disobey. Allow me to explain the situation. They have agreed to drop you of all transgressions you and your friends have committed over the year. We have already played our hand to avoid your immediate termination as a Vizard and the other Vizards, as well as Uryu Ishida for his status as a Quincy. We also were able to talk them out of removing your human friend's powers and erasing their memory of ever having them. This also includes sealing the building spiritual energy inside of your two sisters. They will never have enough spiritual pressure to sufficiently become substitute soul reapers, but their ability to see hollows and soul reapers will be taken away." Ichigo stiffened at the mention of a new Central 46. As he heard all the things that they were willing to do until the 13 Court Guard Squads spoke in his defense, he was getting ever angrier. It wasn't like he did it by choice, he _had _to. All the actions that Ichigo did were for the greater good and rightfully justified. Before Yamamoto could continue his list of actions, Ichigo spoke.

"So they want me to go to this school, and after I do that, then they'll just act like it never happened?"

"That is the best we could get. If you do not accept these terms, you will have your spiritual powers sealed forever. When compared to all of the other things that would be needed to nullify these consequences, this is a very generous offer." Ichigo wasn't a lawyer or a bargainer, but even he could see that to have all of the catastrophe of the past year blamed on him, and all he has to do is go to school to take it off, that this was indeed a very good offer.

"**Go for it King. You don't really have much to lose. Hell, with all the stuff we did this year, I'm surprise by how lenient they were."**, said with a bored tone. Looking inside, Ichigo noted that he was still laying down with his eyes half open and his hands under his head, Zangetsu an arms length away.

Zangetsu gave an affirming nod. _"And I'm sure your friends wouldn't want to be hunted down and sealed as well."_ Come on, it's Zangetsu. Where else do you think he would be?

Even his two powers realized this. Guess it was made official. And Zangetsu had a point. He and his friends wouldn't want to be hunted down by some crappy order. No, Ichigo wouldn't stand for that at all. For that to happen, it would be another way Ichigo failed to protect the ones he cared for. "Fine I'll do it. But I still have some questions as to the conditions of this agreement and the details of my enrollment.", Ichigo said as he rubbed the sides of his temple to ease the oncoming headache that was bound to set in. "Did the Central 46 already enroll me?"

"No. You will have to enter as if you are from one of the Rukon Districts and participate in the entrance exams. The Academy is recruiting new students tomorrow. You are allowed to go back to the World of the Living to describe the situation to your father, but you will need to return immediately. You will need to present yourself before the Central 46 to give oath that you will commit yourself to this agreement." Yamamoto answered Ichigo's second question as to when he would start. But that just lead to another question.

"Why do I have to go like a person from the Rukon District? Can't I just go like myself?"

_Is this boy serious? _"I will not answer that question. You will find out for yourself soon enough." Ichigo was annoyed at that but didn't say anything. He then had a question that wasn't really revolve around the actual conversation, but it was curiosity.

"How are you and the rest of the Captains?", Ichigo asked. Yamamoto was caught off guard by the sudden change in topic. Not only that, he didn't expect him to harbor any concern for them. He guessed he could tell him, it wasn't vital information.

"Me and my squad are fine and running. Squad 2 is already training new recruits and carrying out recovery missions for missing soul reapers. Squad 3 is still without a Captain and Lieutenant Izuru is acting captain for the squad. With the possible chance of Gin Ichimaru returning to his position as Captain, we still are unsure about the situation. Squad 4 is still receiving patients and more or less running. They are still rebuilding, but shall be done soon. Squad 5 is still without a Captain. Lieutenant Hinamori was recently released from the Squad 4 barracks, but is still unreliable. Though she officially has control for the moment, we shall monitor her condition. It has been a rough number of months for the youth, but I have confidence she'll pull through.", Yamamoto said and paused.

He was still thinking about her and her wellbeing. Ichigo too thought about her. Only he saw the Captains and Lieutenants attack her relentlessly when Aizen had them all thinking she was him. The physical and mental damage she suffered was unimaginable, and to hear that she was still working after all that was unbelievable. He also thought that, with some time, she would pull through, but if she was to ever trust someone, and for that someone to betray her, would ultimately break her. Yamamoto continued with,

"Based on recent reports, Squad 6 was fully recovered until Lieutenant Abari was injured during sparring. Once he recovered however, Squad 6 will be returned to it's normal state. Squad 7 hasn't fully recovered yet, but will be soon. Squad 8 is also recovering but would already be fully recovered if their Captain would actually perform like a normal Captain should instead of lounging around. Squad 9 is without a Captain, with Lieutenant Shuhei as acting Captain. They are progressing slower than others, and will need time to fully recover. But it shall be done. Squad 10 is lagging behind paperwork, but is still fully functional. If the Lieutenant would actually do her job then they would be caught up. Squad 11 is as it was." Ichigo didn't have to know what that meant.

"Squad 12 received plenty of samples and are busily working on projects that I will not indulge either you or myself on. Finally, Squad 13 is as functional as it could be, despite Captain Ukitake constantly being sick. Overall, we have 9 Squads fully functional with the other 4 close with having repair completed. Why do you ask such a question?", Yamamoto finished.

"Well, I thought that was the polite thing to do. And, I was curious.", Ichigo said. Yamamoto had time, time to turn the tables.

"Is that so? How are you and your allies conditions as of now?" Ichigo was also caught off guard. He quickly did a memory check and answered,

"Well, I'm fine, beside my stupid father attacking me every morning." Yamamoto raised an eyebrow. "Everyone else is fine, and the number of hollows have decreased. Urahara and the others haven't changed. The Vizards…" Ichigo didn't really know how to answer that question. He hasn't really talked to them after the War. As far as he knew, they were all stable and alive so…, "Well, fine, I guess." Another question popped up.

"What do I have to bring? Or do I just go?" Yamamoto quickly replied with, "Nothing. Most to all Rukon District residents have little possessions. We supply them with all they need. You are not to bring much, two objects at the most."

"What do I have to do to enter the Academy?" Yamamoto followed immediately after with, "Report to the front entrance. The Receptionist shall direct you to the main courtyard. You shall wait there for further instructions." Then Yamamoto had a thought. "Kurosaki, please try your hardest to not exceed the expectations of your examiners. They do not know of your arrival, and we would like to have it remain that way." Ichigo nodded to that.

"Where do I place Zangetsu while I'm there?", Ichigo asked. This very question was one of the first concerns for Yamamoto when he received the orders to place Ichigo through the Academy. "We shall place your zanpakutou with Yoruichi Shihouin. She claims to have an area where no one shall be able to discover and knowing her, it is true. From my knowledge, you do trust her, do you?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Yamamoto just nodded. Ichigo gave a sigh. Having no more questions, Ichigo turned around and was about to leave when he thought of one thing.

"Who stood up for me against the Central 46?", Ichigo questioned. Though he couldn't see his face, Yamamoto could hear that the answer would mean a great deal to the youth. Yamamoto weighed whether he should answer or not since it was none of his business. And he was a substitute. An unseated officer technically outranks him. But…

"Every available Captain that could've attended spoke out on your defense. Even the injured Captains stated their support over kido." Ichigo's eyes widen at the support. "Even the traitor Gin Ichimaru supported you, though he wasn't as influential as the rest." Unwanted flashbacks of a near-dead, one armed, bloody Gin came uninvited. He didn't really like the man, but after being told what his motives were and how he wanted to kill Aizen before the war started did release him of Ichigo's hatred. Even when they were fighting, when Ichigo thought about it now, he never tried to kill him. No, Ichigo didn't like him too much, but he couldn't hate him either.

"How is Gin, if I may ask?" Another few seconds passed as Yamamoto again tried to weigh the pros and cons of releasing such information to the teen.

"He is stable enough to be ushered out of the 4th squad and into the penitence hall. He suffered a great amount of damage by Sosuke Aizen. There is a debate whether Gin should be imprisoned for his actions for the next 5,000 years, or allow him to retake his position as Captain with sever penalties and limitations." Yamamoto opened his eyes to study Ichigo for a moment as he judged what his reaction would be. He may not be able to see his face, but he could read body language good enough to accurately judge someone's reaction. But it wasn't his body language that gave his reaction away, it was his voice that did. To the untrained ear, his voice would sound like it would if you were having a simple conversation. But Head-Captain Yamamoto had centuries over him to tell if any expression was there. There was one. Sympathy.

"Whether or not it counts, tell them that I say he should get the position back.", _Orhime should be able give him back his arm, but if she doesn't want to, then I won't pressure her._ With that he flash-stepped away.

"That boy,", Yamamoto said to himself as he easily tracked the large spiritual pressure of Ichigo Kurosaki. He honestly didn't think Gin should deserve the privilege of being placed as a traitor. He could've left some sort of evidence of his intents, but that was not the case. But, the concept of the act was what made the entire thing contradictory. It failed in the end, but it was a well thought out plan that seemed foolproof. In all the centuries that he served, he never had to deal wit this sort of decision, but this boy seemed to sway him over to the forgiveness side. The only thing that held Yamamoto back was the law. It is never wrong, and in the end always delivers justice. But that's what the traitor Tosen thought as well, and when the law seemed to fail, he was broken. No, the law is always right. But… this seemed to be very easy and very difficult all at once. "That boy, he's one of the very few that I've seen in my life that can make friends and allies as easily as taking a breath."

"But Captainnnnn…", whined Rangiku as Toshiro ordered some squad members to move the sake out of the office.

"That's enough Rangiku. You have paperwork to do and this time, I'm not going to do it for you. Learn some responsibility for a change.", said a very annoyed Toshiro Hitsuguya.

_He walked into her office to check on her since she hasn't bothered him for a change and though he enjoyed the peace and quiet, he knew something was up. His hunch proved faithful as he walked in to find Rangiku passed out on her desk drooling over all the paperwork with the smell of sake in the air. Sighing, he picked her up bridal-style and brought her to a couch outside of the office and laid her down. Once she was moved, Toshiro proceeded to organize the paperwork and look for the stash of sake that was bound to be hiding somewhere on her desk. _

"_You looking for something?", a gentle, almost angelic voice asked. Toshiro paused his search for the sake to see who walked in. It couldn't be Rangiku for she would cause an argument followed by apologies and false promises the second she awoke from the couch. Looking up to see who walked in, he noticed the ex-Espada Nel was standing there watching in amusement. She wasn't trusted at first solely due to the fact that she was an arrancar, but with Ichigo's encouragement and repeated guarantees that she wasn't dangerous, they gave her the benefit of the doubt. It was a good thing too, because she was one of the kindest people Toshiro, or anybody, had ever met. After much debating and strong support from Ichigo and his friends, she was accepted into the 13__th__ squad with Rukia showing her the ways of the soul reaper. Due to her personality, they deemed her safe to be alone, and just recently stopped spying on her, proof that she was now finally accepted without suspicion. _

"_Oh, it's you. Yeah, Rangiku's sake stash. I came in earlier and found her sleeping and drooling on top of the paperwork. I'm sure you can smell why.", Toshiro replied. Nel pinched her nose and nodded. "Would you have any idea where it might be?"_

"_Check under the floorboards underneath the desk."_

"_Under…the…", a vein popped on Toshiro's forehead as he ripped apart the floorboard to see a mountain load of sake bottles of different shapes, sizes and brands. At this very moment, Rangiku woke up and immediately jumped up to argue and ready to give an excuse when she noticed the lifted floorboards and her stash revealed. _

"…_It's not what you think."_

"_Enough.", Toshiro said firmly, stopping any complaints or explanations. Or so he though._

"_But Captainnnnn…"_

"Nel, take control of this operation while me and Lieutenant Matsumoto have a talk." Nel nodded, smiling at Rangiku while Rangiku shot an angry glare at her. She couldn't believe one of her friends sold her out! Before Rangiku turned to follow Toshiro, she caught a wink by Nel, and heard her mutter, "Uh oh, 'Lieutenant Matsumoto'. He must be serious.", she said in a playful tone.

Toshiro and Rangiku walked outside and stopped by the doors. They flash-stepped on the roof to have their 'conversation'. The whole way, Rangiku was thinking of possible excuses that weren't already used and thinking of how she can convince him let her slide just this once. If she were dealing with anyone else, she would've just resorted to using charm and wink and smile her way out, swaying her hips as she walked away. But she was dealing with a Captain, and Toshiro at that. As they stopped on the roof, Rangiku was preparing for the verbal assault that was bound to come.

"Rangiku…" Any second now, he ears would be blown out by the loud chastisement of an irate Toshiro.

"Rangiku?" It's coming, she can feel it, all the boring lectures of responsibility and work ethic that bore her to tears.

"Rangiku." She can picture it, passing out due to pure boredom and Toshiro getting louder once he realizes that she's sleeping. Had she paid attention to the outside world instead of having a mental breakdown, she would realize that she's freezing.

"Rangiku!" She was brought back to reality as she saw a boiling Toshiro with a vein popping out on his head and his arms crossed.

"Ah, yes Captain?", she asked sheepishly. _Here it comes._

"…Would you like the rest of the day off?" _…?_ Rangiku was at a lost for a moment as to what just took place. Toshiro was about to ask again when her hand suddenly slapped on his forehead and stayed.

"Huh…", then she lifted one of his eyelids and looked into them. "Hm…", then she grabbed the sides of his jaw-line and forced his mouth open and looked into it. Toshiro finally caught on and yet another vein popped on his forehead. "You seem to check out fine, but something must be wrong…"

"What do you think you're doing?", he asked in a voice low enough for a growl. Rangiku heard the growl and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and her eyes widen; not in fear, but hormones. She never heard Toshiro growl, but she was going to make sure that it wouldn't be the last. That was a sound Toshiro should make more often._ Definitely._

"Rangiku, are you zoning out on me again?" With a hard shake of her head, she was able to reply with, "No Captain, I'm listening."

"Would you like the rest of the day off?", Toshiro said after a sigh. Rangiku again was surprised, but to a much less degree and recovered quickly.

"Um, may I ask why?", she didn't know what she was doing, this was a once in a lifetime deal, and she was risking it at an explanation!

"Because it's obvious that you're not going to finish the paperwork and would rather hang out with friends. I'm giving you this opportunity so you can do that, because tomorrow, you're going to do every last sheet of paperwork of today, tomorrow, and the day after." That was definitely a lot of work. She's going to need a lot of sake for that. _Well in that case…_

"Yeah, sure!" Rangiku pulled Toshiro in a tight embrace, making sure that his head was positioned in-between her huge chest. "You sure know how to please a woman." Rangiku said seductively. Rangiku made it a personal goal to make Toshiro blush as much as possible, with poor results. Tricks and gestures that would kill an average man by nosebleed had little to no effect on Toshiro. She could count the number of times she did make him blush on one hand. Now, though, she can add an extra finger to it, for the combination of head, chest, and seductive comment got him cherry crimson. "See you later Captain!", Rangiku yelled over her shoulder as she flash-stepped to her favorite bar.

She was so caught up in the past 5 minutes that she didn't see a certain strawberry flash-stepping the opposite direction. Said strawberry was also caught up in thoughts and didn't see a very 'gifted' woman flash-stepping the opposite direction of him. They both ran into each other mid step and crashed to the ground, rolling across the walkway for a few meters and finally stopped with Rangiku straddling Ichigo.

"Ah damn that hurt.", Ichigo said, looking down.

"What was that?", Rangiku said, looking up.

Their eyes met at the same time and they both froze. Rangiku froze because she didn't recognize the man, and Ichigo froze as he realized that Rangiku was straddling him. As Ichigo was still shocked, Rangiku thought he looked familiar and leaned in to get a better look at him, not bothering to get off his hips. Ichigo could feel the tell tale sign of a nosebleed as he witnessed Rangiku lean over for some reason, revealing more of her magnificent cleavage. Then Rangiku suddenly figured out who it was and exclaimed, "Ichigo!", not noticing what the quick movement and slight bounce of her body on his hips were doing to Ichigo. "What did you do with your hair, you look hotter then ever!" All Ichigo could mutter was 'uhhhh' while Rangiku still talked energetically, periodically bouncing on Ichigo's hips. Mercifully,(depending on your opinion), she got off of Ichigo with a slight bounce and pulled him up.

"Uh, nice to see you too?", Ichigo managed to say at last, forgetting his slightly more mature voice.

"Don't act like that silly, come on let's talk over some sake!", and as she started to pull him along, her brain was going into overdrive. _Today just keeps getting better! First, get wasted in the morning, then make Toshiro growl at me, making Toshiro blush, get the day off, and then running into Ichigo! And he looks so freaking hot! And then the way he sounded when he talked! He's already giving me shivers. _She never noticed Nel around until she tapped her on the shoulder. Looking over, she saw Nel and stopped.

"Rangiku, who's that?", she pointed at Ichigo, who was out cold on the ground.

"That's Ichigo! But I wonder what he's doing on the ground?", put a finger to the corner of her mouth as she thought.

"Maybe it has to do with the fact that you were dragging him through the Seireitei by his neck and he passed out due to oxygen depletion.", offered Nel. "And that can't be Ichigo, this guy's to hot to be him." Rangiku just raised his head and after a moment, Nel blushed as she realized that it was indeed Ichigo.

"I see you're thinking the same thing I was! I know, he looks hot doesn't he?"

Stuttering, Nel was finally able to say, "Th th that's not what I was thinking!", but her blush increased as Ichigo moaned as he came to.

All Ichigo can remember was intense pain and no air until the blackness grabbed him. He heard a few voices, two probably, most likely female. Sitting up, Ichigo rubbed his neck and finally looked up. Rangiku was immediately recognizable, but it took a moment to recognize the other woman though. She looked like…

"Nel?", in reaction, Nel blushed even more when she heard his slightly more mature voice. Even Rangiku was still adjusting to it. Nel took a few deep breaths, and then did something that Ichigo remembered and wished to forget.(Or remember, depending on your opinion.)

"Ichigo!", and Nel tackled him to the ground, giving him a 'hug'. He remembered this all to well. After a few seconds, she released him, much to Ichigo's lung's delight. After taking a few breaths Ichigo asked, "So, how's Soul Society?"

"It's great. I don't have to keep looking over my back like I had to do in Las Noches. There's even this club in Soul Society called Shini-", Nel was cut off by Rangiku as she put a hand over her mouth.

"Yeah, me and Nel are buddies and it's great having her here!", said Rangiku quickly. Ichigo just raised an eyebrow.

"That's great to hear. Look, it was nice seeing you two again, but I got to go home. I'll be back tonight though. See ya.", and Ichigo flash-stepped faster than normal. _If all that happened over hair, than I've got to cut this pronto._

As they watched Ichigo flash-step away, Rangiku looked back at Nel and yelled, "You almost told him of the S.W.A.! What's wrong with you!"

"Okay, I slipped up, sorry!" Sighing, Rangiku said, "Fine."

"What does it matter anyway, doesn't just about everyone know about the S.W.A. already?"

"Yes, but he doesn't. And we could definitely use him as the cover for the next calendar for our next fundraiser."

"That's genius!", exclaimed Nel as she thought about it. After a few moments, Nel asked with a knowing smile, "Hey, you want to get wasted?"

"I thought you didn't drink enough to get wasted.", Rangiku said while craning her neck to see the other. She really did know Nel pretty good and knew that though she did drink sake every now and again, she never did consume enough to get wasted.

"_I_ don't, but you do. That's why I asked if _you_ wanted to get wasted."

"Yeah, I would. But _somebody_, told Toshiro where the sake was."

"Yeah, and that _somebody_ has access to all the sake he took today and all the other days.", Nel grinned when Rangiku eyes widen in realization. "So I ask again, do you want to get wasted?"

_Best day ever!_, Rangiku thought.

Ichigo went to the gate to go back home. The encounter with Rangiku took long enough that it would be night soon. He had a lot to think about. It seemed the Central 46 was back and as bad as ever. It seemed as though they weren't even up and running for long when they already wanted to go after him and his friends over something that happened a year ago when they stormed the Soul Society. Then they were going to target Ichigo and the other Vizards just over the fact that they have hollow powers, despite the fact that they were a big help during the Winter War. Then target his friends for having powers and Uryu for being a Quincy. Obviously, they haven't changed at all.

"**Maybe we should kill them all like Aizen, huh?"**, Ichigo could hear the smirk in his tone.

"_No, I would actually like to not fight the entire 13 Court Guard Squads. I'll just deal with it."_

"**And why not? Just go in and massacre them all and then put the blame on someone else. Solves all of your problems, doesn't it?"**

"_The answer is no. I'll just deal with it. And what about the next line-up of 46? We couldn't keep performing repeated massacres over and over again."_

"**Of course we could! There's enough soul reaper nobodies to spare, and they all want to be somebodies someday, and we could give them that. Make them all seem strong."**

Ichigo proceeded to ignore his hollow and continued on thinking of what he was going to say to his father when he got home. After prolonged thinking, Ichigo made it to the gate and within seconds, it was activated. Before Ichigo went through it, a man he didn't recognize came over and gave him a cell phone.

"When you're ready to come back, just text _RSS._ It means 'Return to Soul Society'.", after the man was finished explaining, he walked away. Putting the phone in his pants pocket, Ichigo rushed through the gate to get home. He had to go in, explain and leave sooner than he would've liked. _Oh well, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish I guess… Good thing it's the start of summer-vacation._

Kon layed down on Ichigo's bed, tired. It was 10:30 p.m. and Ichigo still didn't come back. From what Isshin told him, it was a shitty situation. It was thoughs same bastards that ordered the 'termination' of mod souls like Kon himself. And now, they were not only targeting him, but everyone else. Yeah, it was bad.

_What's taking him._ Kon thought. Kon didn't think that he would be out for this long. Ichigo wasn't the kind of person to just loiter around like this when a situation such as this arises. After another 30 minutes, he was about to just try to fall asleep when he heard a knocking on the window and saw Ichigo motioning to the lock on the window. Kon unlocked it and opened the window for Ichigo who climbed in. Kon was prepared to give up the body for Ichigo, and was surprised when he just asked Kon where his father was. Before Kon could answer, Isshin walked in and said, "So, how'd it go?"

Caught by surprise, Ichigo asked, "Wait, you knew this was going to happen?"

"No, before you were called, rumors around the Captains were spread and Urahara caught wind of it and relayed it to me and the Vizards. But that's as far as we got, fill me in on the details. I'll fill in the others tomorrow." And Ichigo repeated what Yamamoto told him earlier that day. "I see. Well, at least a year of school undercover will be all it takes."

"What do you mean 'undercover'?", Ichigo asked.

"What, do you think that you can invade the Soul Society, beat a 3rd seat, a Lieutenant, and two Captain class soul reapers while simultaneously saving the Soul Society, achieving Bankai in just 2 days, beat the Bount leader, invade Hueco Mundo and defeat two Espada on the same day, then come back and beat an enemy that no other soul reaper could even touch and not be famous? Not to mention your other exploits like unraveling a Royal Family conspiracy and save the Soul Society yet again, fight against all these different zampakoutou, be a big help in the retrieval of a royal artifact, eliminate a hollow that can erase memories, all in the course of a year! Face it Ichigo, as far as reputation at the Academy goes, you're already an unstoppable force that can't be stopped."

"Hey, I helped with the hollow that erases memories.", Kon stated.

"All you did was ride Ichigo's shoulder the whole time.", replied Isshin. Ichigo was just at a lost for words. Yeah, he had to admit that the things that he did were incredible and amazing, but he didn't think he would be regarded as some sort of god. If what he said was true, Ichigo already didn't want to go to this academy.

"_Don't be so modest, Ichigo. They are not acts that you should be ashamed of. When you are complimented, don't deny the action. But be wary of the amount of praise you allow yourself for it may negatively affect you."_

"**Yeah, I wouldn't want to serve a King who was another arrogant prick like Byakuya. If that happens, I'm gonna have to beat you with an inch of your life."**

"_Like you could. Trust me, I would hate that as much as you."_

"Alright then Ichigo, hurry and go back to the Soul Society to say that stupid oath and get this thing over with.", Isshin said.

"Yeah, your right. See you guys when I got time. Kon, don't screw around with my body, I want it the same as it was when I left it.", Ichigo said. Kon just nodded, while he inwardly smirked. If only he knew. Ichigo turned to leave when Isshin said, "Oh, and one more thing…"

_Smack!_

Ichigo dodged the punch and punched Isshin in the face, sending him to the floor in a bloody heap. "That's what you get for trying to sneak me dad! Jeez, it's really getting annoying.", and Ichigo stepped out into the air. He pulled out the phone and texted _RSS_, and a short time later, a gate opened and Ichigo went through it to start heading back to the Soul Society.

"Well, since Ichigo's gonna be gone for a while, you and me are gonna have to talk about how to be like Ichigo.", Isshin said to Kon.

"Rule #1, never smile…"

And that's another chapter. R&R!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Inauguration

Exiting the Dangai, Ichigo proceeded to flash-step over to the Central 46 to give the Oath Of Commitment. He didn't like it one bit, but it was out of his hands. On the way, he happened to pass the Squad 4 barracks and, thinking he had time to spare, decided to give Renji and Ikkaku a visit, see what kind of hell they put each other through. This would be one of the people that he would visit that he didn't see in a while, like Kukaku and Hanantoru. Walking through the front doors, Ichigo asked the secretary if they were in and if so what room they were occupying. It turns out that the two were in the same room, at the left wing. Not a good idea putting those two in the same room together. Thanking the secretary, Ichigo walked down the left wing to the room. Finding the door and setting Zangetsu down beside it, Ichigo was about to walk through when he paused to hear the argument of who won and thrown insults.

"There's no why you won that fight! I had you practically begging for mercy by the time it ended!"

"Begging for mercy? Ha! You were crying like a new born child about saying that you want no more! You gave first."

"Kiss my ass, Ikkaku. When I blocked your frontal attack, all I had to do was aim my Hihou Zabimaru and blast you on the side and you were done."

"Which proves how much of a pussy you were, attacking someone when they weren't looking."

"Bullshit, you're just weak. And you didn't deny it either."

"Who you callin' weak, asshole! I'm much stronger than you. I can prove it right now. As far as denying the attack, I stand by my statement that it was a pussy move."

"You can prove right now that you're stronger? Alright Ikkaku, prove it!" The sound of food being thrown was heard, followed by a roar of anger and tell-tale signs of a fight. When Ichigo walked in to stop them, it was as if two champion boxers that trained for a whole year finally got in the ring together and laid it all on the table. Both combatants were throwing jabs, hooks, crosses, haymakers, sweeping kicks, high kicks, front kicks, spinning kicks, all the while blocking and taunting each other. Shaking his head, Ichigo proceeded to try and break up the two.

Captain Unohana was finishing her daily rounds; checking on the sick, treating the injured, ect. So far, everything was great, which meant that she was both happy and bored the whole day. Yeah, she was happy that nobody was suffering in anyway, but because of that, she really didn't have any new cases to work on and treat. She would normally work on paperwork, but that was finished a while ago. Yeah, slow and boring days were always a conflicting time for Unohana, until one of her nurses requested her immediate assistance. She could think of every person in the barracks that were sick or injured, and none of them could make her nurses have to stop and ask for her assistance, not this late. But she did have her theories. Following her nurse to the left wing, she now knew that her theory was correct, if the man-sized hole in the wall was any indicator.

_I knew I shouldn't have put them in the same room._ As she walked into the room, she was witness to a disastrous sight. It looked as if a bomb had gone off in the room. There was blood here and there, needles everywhere on the floor and walls, one of the beds fallen to the side which had needles sticking out the mattress, a small hole in the opposite wall, shards of plastic that was most likely the remains of a serving trey, and the TV was in shambles on the floor. Oh, and the big hole in the wall.

And another thing that was confusing was that the combatants weren't just Lieutenant Abari and 3rd seat Madarrame, but substitute soul reaper Ichigo Kurosaki was fighting as well. She decided to watch for a few moments until she intervened. What was Ichigo doing in the 4th's barracks? Didn't he have a meeting with the central 46? She was broken out of her reverie when Ikkaku flew past her with a trailing Ichigo. Renji rose from his spot on the floor and was already storming towards the two. Deciding that enough was enough, Unohana stepped in front of Renji and not so gently threw him towards the other two that featured Ichigo repeatedly punching Ikkaku in the face. As the three fallen fighters started getting up, Unohana spoke.

"Abari, Maderrame, and Kurosaki; I suggest that you end this brawl and return to your beds.", a nice tone. Just as they started to protest, Unohana said again, _"Would you please return to your beds. I wouldn't want you to injure yourselves any further."_, with the same smile. Whatever protest that the three were going to give immediately died on their lips. In fact they started crowding together on the corner of the room. Finally, they registered what was being asked of them and immediately went to and flipped over their beds as Ichigo just slowly slid down the wall. Now that everyone was quiet and in their places, though they all sported bruises and bloody faces, Unohana finally asked, "Ichigo Kurosaki, what are you doing here?"

After a few moments to wait for the effects of her demands to stop fighting, Ichigo finally answered, "Well, they started it.", Ichigo pointed a finger at the other two.

"That's not what I asked."

Gulping, Ichigo continued with, "Well I heard that they were injured and sent here so I came to visit them. While I was walking up, they were arguing and when they started fighting, I came in to stop them."

"So how did you get involved with the fighting?"

"Well, you see…"

_Ichigo walked over to the two fighters to break them up. As he got in-between them to hold them off, however, whether intentional or not, Renji 'just happen' to raise his foot at that moment in time to kick Ichigo square in the nuts. As Ichigo immediately doubled over in pain, Ikkaku 'just happened' to kick the side of Ichigo's head and step over his motionless body to continue the brawl with Renji._

"_Outta the way, punk.", Ikkaku said._

"_Now, where were we?", Renji followed. They continued to bash each other with powerful blows. After a couple of seconds of continuous hits, blocks, and taunts, they broke away preparing to engage again. Right before Renji attacked however, he suddenly found himself in the hallway with a storm of pain racking his body and a new hole in the wall. _

_He just got forcefully thrown through a wall._

_Ikkaku looked up at the orange-haired teen with confusion, which was followed with anger afterwards. How dare he interrupt a fight that he, Ikkaku Madaramme, was participating in! Cracking his knuckles, Ikkaku attacked Ichigo who just deflected his swing and kicked his ribs, albeit shakily, forcing Ikkaku to double over sideways though he was still standing. Ichigo couldn't follow up however, as Renji floored him with a trey to the back of his head. With him out of the way, Renji then slammed Ikkaku with the trey to the lower jaw, also flooring him. _

"_Take that, weaklings.", he said with an arrogant smirk._

"_Renji you bastard!", Ichigo shouted as he jumped up and tried punching Renji in the face, while Ikkaku slowly staggered his way up while rubbing his jaw. He was about to jump back in, but a new idea struck him. Opening one of the shelves, Ikkaku grabbed a handful of needles and syringes. _

_Ichigo tried punching Renji, who was blocking with the trey, which was having little effect besides some aching knuckles and a few hits of his own. Frustrated, Ichigo faked with hesitating his left fist. Renji fell for it, for he rose the trey up in a defensive way. Ichigo then threw his left fist as hard as he could and surprisingly, literally punched through the trey and continued with hitting Renji right under the nose to his two big front teeth. He fell back with a busted lip and Ichigo felt extra pleasure in seeing a tooth fly through the air. He grabbed Renji ready to bash his face in when a needle hit Ichigo on the cheek, the metal needle impaling the flesh and stopped halfway inside his mouth. Letting Renji go and roaring in pain, Ichigo cautiously touched and pulled the object out his cheek. _

_Once out, Ichigo turned to the source of the needle and paled when he saw Ikkaku with a handful in one hand and one on the other, cocked and ready. Renji sat up and yelped when a needle nearly grazed his eyeball. His eyeball! Flipping over the bed next to him, Ichigo dived for cover, a trail of needles following his feet on the wall. Renji, however, was dancing around dodging all the needles thrown, only being partially successful, if some of the needles hanging off his arms and thighs were any indicator. _

_The barrage of needles subsided after a few seconds of continuous fire. Chancing a look, Ichigo looked over the side of the bed to see Renji look like a pineapple-shaped pincushion and Ikkaku out of needles. Or so he thought. As Renji started removing needles and Ichigo ready to vault over the bed to rip Ikkaku a new one, a series of needles were thrown at Renji. Instead of impaling Renji though, they hit his clothes, pinning him to the wall. Laughing his way over, Ikkaku started punching Renji just about everywhere that was above the waist. Ichigo took this time to strike and jumped over the bed. Once behind Ikkaku, Ichigo grabbed his head and slammed it against Renji's, who put another hole in the wall. If you were on the opposite side of the wall, you would see a red-hair man's head through it, dazed and confused. Pulling Ikkaku's head back, he kneed him in his kidneys and tossed him to the floor. He rolled back on his feet. Renji, finally pulling his bloody head back into the room and ripped himself off the wall, saw Ichigo with his back turned. Capitalizing on the opening, Renji dropped kicked him forward, Ichigo yelling at the surprise attack. Ikkaku saw this, and with good timing, placed a strong uppercut to the bottom of Ichigo's chin, propelling him to the corner that had a TV hanging there. Ichigo hit the bottom of the TV, and fell to the ground. The combination of hitting the TV and falling to the ground loosened the screws enough to allow the TV to fall. Ichigo sat up, about to stand when the screen of the falling TV hit him right on the top of the head, making him fall to the side with half of his body actually inside the TV._

_Ikkaku turned from the fallen Ichigo to a crushing punch to the nose that grounded him with his back on the floor. Raising his legs up to do a jump up, he jumped up and kicked Renji with both feet instead, falling back to the floor. He did a real jump up and, well, jumped up. He saw Renji down about to get up and charged._

_Getting up at the same time, Renji also ran and slid on the ground to the running Ikkaku. Surprised by the choice of attack, Ikkaku was thrown upwards horizontal to Renji. Stealing a page from Ikkaku, Renji propped both feet up and extended a ferocious kick to the chest of a falling Ikkaku, sending him back upwards in a spin. The only defense that Ikkaku threw up was a x-guard across the chest that lessened the hit slightly, but completely made his hands motionless for a moment. Renji rolled backwards to get to his feet. At seeing the falling Ikkaku, he readied his right hand for a strong uppercut. Seeing the moment, Renji threw the punch up and hit a falling, spinning Ikkaku. The combination of hit, fall, and spin multiplied the pain to levels that would've knocked out or even killed a lesser man. It was enough for Ikkaku to actually stay grounded for a moment instead of jumping right back up like he normally does. But, this was Ikkaku, and he'll be damned if he loses to Renji. Getting back up, albeit very shakily, he engaged Renji in a battle of strength. _

_Ichigo groaned and cursed as he rose from the remains of a TV. He winced as he touched the cuts and scrapes on his face. Looking up, he saw Renji and Ikkaku in a battle of strength in which neither was winning. Getting up, Ichigo smirked at sudden idea. Picking up the shattered TV, he threw it as hard as he could at the two. Ikkaku was the unluckier one as the thrown TV collided with his back, making him yell in pain and knees buckle. Renji kneed him on his chin with his right knee and kicked him away with his left foot. Looking up, he saw the same flying TV heading for his head. With his superior reflexes, Renji caught the TV right in front of his face. He was about to put it down, but the TV jerked forward and smashed him on the face. Ichigo saw Renji catch it so he dropped kicked it. Ikkaku got up, spun Ichigo around and slugged him across the face. Ichigo retaliated with a punch of his own. Dazed but still determined, Renji got up. He found the other two and ran forward, both arms out wide so he could hit both combatants. The other two kept trading blows, not once noticing the rushing Renji. Ichigo knocked Ikkaku down to the ground. When Ikkaku hit the ground, he looked over and saw Renji. In a display of athleticism, Ikkaku rolled away in a tough ball and dodged Renji and his attack. Ichigo wasn't so lucky. When Renji got close, he grabbed Ichigo's face and forcefully threw Ichigo to the wall. Ichigo caught himself before he hit and when he turned, an uppercut that hit his lower jaw knocked him back to the wall, making a loud 'thud' when his back hit the wall. Renji rose his foot to stomp Ichigo into the wall. When his foot came down, Ichigo moved just in time and barely dodged Renji's foot. Though the pain of kicking a wall was storming through Renji's leg, he swung his other one and hit Ichigo to the side of his face. When that was accomplished, Renji started to nurse the pain in his foot, not noticing Ikkaku right behind him. Renji was hunched over, rubbing his foot. Ikkaku jumped up and dropped an axe kick to the back of his head. Renji landed hard on the ground with a new whelp on the back of his head. Ichigo rolled to his feet and stomped on Renji and ducked under a swing by Ikkaku. Ikkaku threw another punch. Ichigo caught it and grabbed his wrist. Then, he twisted, straightened, and locked his arm straight and, putting his other hand under Ikkaku's armpit, picked him up and through him across the room. Ichigo then proceeded to walk over, leaving the dazed Renji on the ground. The plan was to pummel Ikkaku's face over and over again, which he promptly did once he reached him. Suddenly, he felt a body tackle him to the ground. _

"_Abari, Maderrame, and Kurosaki; I suggest that you end this brawl and return to your beds." _

"…And that's how that went.", Ichigo finished his recollection, scowling at Ikkaku and Renji the whole time; he was still sitting on the ground in the corner. Said persons just smirked back at him.

"_Well I couldn't say that I didn't ask for this in some way.",_ Unohana thought soberly. "Kurosaki, I _believe_ that you have more pressing matters than picking a fight with two injured soul reapers, am I correct?" Ichigo just looked at her confused, then a look of surprise and embarrassment suddenly showed on his face.

"Oh, crap! You're right. I gotta go.", Ichigo said frantically as he hurriedly got up and started to the door. Before he walked through though, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking behind him, Ichigo saw Unohana holding him back.

"Kurosaki, I would like to heal you before you leave. You're not really presentable in your current condition."

"I'll say. You look like shit.", Renji said. A glare and a middle finger was his only answer.

"So what's this thing that you got to go to?", Ikkaku asked. Ichigo was about to answer when Unohana started with healing his lips, so he couldn't. Seeing his blush at the contact, Renji and Ikkaku smirked and snickered.

"All done Kurosaki. Now go. Would you want me to inform them?", Unohana asked, motioning towards the other two. Ichigo nodded.

"Well, got to go. See you guys later.", he said while getting up and walking towards the door, retrieving Zangetsu and placing him on his back.

"Damn right we will. We got to finish this fight.", Ikkaku said with a smirk.

When Ichigo left, Unohana turned around and looked at the other two bloody combatants. "I would like to inform you that after you are healed and cleared, you will be paying for the damage to the room, as well as help clean it up." She then left, her Captain's haori fluttering behind her dramatically. Ikkaku and Renji had matching shocked expressions. Ikkaku sobered up first and said "Like I said, you're a pussy."

Renji swirled around to meet Ikkaku head on. "Oh really? You look worse than me dumbass!"

"But I didn't resort to hitting people repeatedly in the back! You should join Squad 2, since attacking people when their backs are turned is the only thing you're good for."

"Oh yeah? Well, do you know what you're good for? Taking a beating. It tells people how much of a bitch you are."

"Wanna run that by me again. You know how I know you're gay? You took a frontal assault earlier in the fight without even defending yourself.", Ikkaku said, making it a point to make a double meaning.

"You know how I know you're gay? You dropped to your knees and leaned closer to me when I had you beat."

"That's it! I'm gunna kill you right now!" He was about to lunge when Captain Unohana past the door, going down the hall. Before she past the door, she looked into it, making eye contact with both of the occupants of the room. They completely shut up and laid down on the beds, tucking themselves in; though it did nothing to ease the shivers they both suffered from at that moment.

Ichigo was flash-stepping quickly now to the Central 46 chambers, trying to remember where to go. He never personally been there before, but he had an idea. After returning to Karakura Town when the Bounts were around, Rukia had told him about how Aizen killed the Central 46, and in a act of spontaneous stupidity, Ichigo just dumbly asked, "Where's are they?" Surprisingly, she just answered him and continued. He was now trying to remember the area she described. _Remote and isolated, with a sort of mote around it. Who does that anymore?_ After a while, Ichigo finally found a building fitting the description of the Central 46 chambers. As Ichigo got closer however, a whole force seemed to flash-step in front of him, blocking his path. There were around 25 soul reapers and 5 others that appeared in a white robe with a rag over their face. The five soul reapers looked familiar. Not that they looked different, but the fact that Ichigo felt like he seen them before. One of the white robed men stepped forward with a collar of some sorts.

"Are you the vizard named Ichigo Kurosaki, substitute soul reaper of Karakura Town?", a man said with a business-like tone. Ichigo tensed when he stated his Vizard status. Before, Ichigo and his friends made sure to hide his hollow powers from the Soul Society, though he still used them in the presence of others, so he didn't know how successful it was. It was still a little discomforting to hear his 'status' so easily announced, as if talking about the weather. The man was still waiting for an answer.

"Before I answer any questions, answer this one. Who the hell are you?", Ichigo said in a calm tone, though the threatening tone in the actual question didn't go unnoticed. Without hesitation, the white-robed soul reaper answered in the same business-like tone,

"We are the escort for the Substitute Soul Reaper Ichigo Kurosaki to proceed to the Central 46 chambers. Any soul reaper with the strength of a Lieutenant level or higher will be immediately engaged by the escort and questioned upon their business here. Now, I shall repeat this once and no more, are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" _Great. I thought this was going to be easy._ But Ichigo could understand the reason behind this idea. A soul reaper with the strength of a lieutenant or higher can easily wipe out the Central 46, hence Aizen. Though none of the soul reapers present could give a challenge to a soul reaper with a lieutenant strength or higher, they would still stall the attacker and create more time for others to evacuate the building of the 46 noblemen and women to safety while alerting the 13 Court Guard Squads at the same time. Debating a few more moments longer, Ichigo finally answered,

"I am."

"Before you go any further, you must put this restriction band on your neck. This device limits your spiritual energy and spirit pressure output by 90%. Also, you must surrender your zanpakutou to us. You will then be escorted to the Central 46 chambers by us. If you resist, you will be forcefully nullified. Do you accept these terms?" Ichigo immediately disliked the situation, as proven by his increasing scowl. But, come on. Did he really have a choice?

Reluctantly, Ichigo said, "Fine, I do."

Nodding to himself, the man signaled one of the soul reapers to confiscate Zangetsu. He gave Zangetsu to him and felt a band of some sort coil around his neck. Ichigo felt his power practically fall to non-existence. It was actually a struggle to solidify the air underneath him. To make matters worse, four rope-like restraints extended from the collar to the poles that the other four white-robed soul reapers, with the fifth leading the squad. Ichigo finally remembered why they looked so familiar, they were the escort that brought Rukia to and fro during his invasion. No wonder Rukia felt so helpless, with his power cut this low, he felt like a weak level hollow could kill him.

"We shall descend to the ground and advance to the chambers.", the same man said. And that's what they did. Even though his eyes kept up easily, with his power so low, it felt like he was lunched out of a canon. Dead stop to accelerated speed beyond belief. Ichigo was so weak, that when they hit the ground, Ichigo was the only on to land on his knees and was embarrassed as he looked around like he didn't know where he was. In all truth, he probably didn't know where he was, but that was beside the point.

Once on the ground, they didn't even pause as they started 'escorting' Ichigo through a maze of turns. After a few minutes of adjusting to the restriction, Ichigo was finally able to ask a question without sounding like he was running a marathon while asking.

"When will Zangetsu be returned to me?", Ichigo asked the man that seemed to be the leader.

"That is for the Central 46 to decide. Keep moving.", he replied with the same business tone. Several minutes later, the turns finally ended to a long walkway that led through a series of gates onto a bridge that Ichigo confirmed was the 'mote'. Once past that, the doors seemed to open in a cliché movie-style slow motion way that he guessed put fear in a person. Moving through another maze of turns in stone, torch-lit hallways Ichigo started wondering how long this was going to take. It felt like forever ago since he came back from his hometown. And it felt just as long as he wandered through the hallways. Really, how did they know where they were going? It seemed and felt like they were going in circles. Nothing ever changed.

He was finally walked through a set of doors into a large room with rows upon rows of seats and people with masks covering their faces. It was dim, to where if he look straight up, he would see pitch blackness. The way the room was set, it felt as though the entire weight of the world was upon his shoulders at this moment. Movement took Ichigo out of his reverie as the escort of soul reapers took to standing at the walls of the room. Now alone, the weight felt like it increased. No one said anything for a while. Ichigo was about to start the 'meeting' himself until,

"Ichigo Kurosaki. Do you understand the reason your presence was called here tonight?", an unknown voice came from seemingly out of nowhere. It sounded male.

"Yes."

"You are here for the arrangement of your Soul Reaper Education. Up until now, you have acted without the approval of the Soul Reaper Academy. How do you plea?" How did he plea? What was this, some court trial? Wasn't he just suppose to give some oath and leave? And how does he plea to what?

"Huh? Plea to what?", Ichigo asked to nobody in particular. Their was a slight murmur in the crowd with quiet comments like, _'how rude/no respect for authority/needs to learn some manners/'_. After a moment, the room went silent.

"How do you plea to actively performing soul reaper duties over the past year without the Sign of Approval by the Soul Reaper Academy? Answer, human.", a different male voice said.

"Uh, guilty, I guess.", Ichigo said while rubbing the back of his head and shifting his eyes to the side. The act reminded him of his longer hair. At the gesture, murmurs arose again with similar comments. Settling down once more, another voice, female, said.

"You have chosen to plead guilty. Though your actions had benefited and played a great role in the Winter War, for the better of the Soul Society, they caused countless financial setbacks, casualties, and problems for us, the governing body of the Soul Society. By pleading guilty, do you also plead guilty to the result of your acts; every last one of them?" There was a bit of a pause as Ichigo contemplated his next answer. War was war, casualties were unavoidable. The setbacks, well, they probably were unavoidable too. But reflecting back though, Ichigo played a major hand in the events that transpired over the past year. Hell, the first time he set foot in the Soul Society, he disabled a gatekeeper, invaded the Seireitei, and destroyed countless buildings with his fights. Things didn't seem to get any better every time he came here. But then again, even the Central 46 said that he did it all for the betterment of the Soul Society. Finally deciding on an answer, Ichigo said,

"Not guilty.", yet again, murmurs were heard, but Ichigo continued over the noise, "In battle and war, casualties are unavoidable, and for me to take sole blame for every injury that every soul reaper received since I arrived is ridiculous. Battle isn't something that happens and nothing changes. Every large scale battle that took place in the past year left a mark of it's own in it's own way. Yes, me and my allies did play a role of some sort in all of them, and I did damage parts and pieces of the Soul Society in all of them, but never have I intentionally placed harm on the Soul Society itself." The room was silent as they inspected Ichigo's argument. Seemingly as one, the room itself seemed to accept his answer and the next question was asked.

"What about your loyalties? Where do they lie? Are you an enemy of the Soul Society?", a male voice asked. The entire room seemed to tense slightly. Are they serious? How many times has Ichigo helped and even saved the Soul Society that they still have to question his loyalties? He was about to automatically say yes when he realized he couldn't. _What the hell?_

"**I froze your jaw shut you idiot! You were about to be assassinated right where you stand so I suggest that you listen good. He's setting you up. Repeat the last question to yourself. What would have happened had you said yes to that question?" **

Ichigo immediately understood what his hollow was saying. Yeah, he had a lot of friends that he made over the past year in the Soul Society. They gave him a life of adventure that would last him a lifetime. They gave him the power to protect his friends and family. Of all things, that was probably the most important. But for them to still try to set him up and 'legally' try to kill at every turn was annoying. Even though he liked most of the people that were in the 13 Court Guard Squad, the government really needs to change. Ichigo thought about what to say. Well, one thing was for certain, though he almost literally died a few times by the Soul Society itself, he still found it as his ally. And the people within it.

"_Hey hollow, thanks for the save."_

"**Whatever."**

"I consider the Soul Society my ally. I will not work for you, but should you need my help, than I'll help." The second statement seemed to put the 46 into a silent uproar. Though he didn't hear anyone yell in anger or move in jerky movements, the whole room still seemed to boil in the statement. Soon, they calmed down, but that took a while. In a room such as this, it felt like centuries for it to do it.

"What are you assuming in your statement, Ichigo Kurosaki?", the female voice seemed calm, but it felt laced with a sharp, cutting edge. "Do you have the audacity to think yourself a valued ally of the Soul Society? You are just an illegal substitute soul reaper."

"I will continue to protect Karakura Town from hollow invasions, but I will not participate in Soul Society workings unless it is a threat to it, or my hometown. I swear on my life that I will not attack the Soul Society."

"That is no good. You must give oath to us that you won't. One of your past transgressions include the abduction of the Noble Clan () Head and intervened in it's affairs. Intervening in a noble clan's affairs is another great offence to you rising list.", said a male voice.

"That was for the greater good of the Soul Society. I don't remember him pressing charges…", Ichigo muttered the last part, though it still seemed as though they heard him.

"It seems as though we have strayed away from the originally point of this meeting. Now, to the business at hand. Am I correct to assume that Head-Captain Yamamoto briefed you on the details?", another female voice questioned. This one though seemed absolutely familiar. Ichigo nodded despite himself. "The crime that you yourself have plead guilty to is acting in soul reaper duties without attending the Soul Reaper Academy and earning the Sign of Approval. With your testimony, reasoning, and support from other captains of the 13 Court Guard Squads, your actions will be forgiven by attending the Soul Reaper Academy. Have you been briefed on the terms of attending the academy?"

"No. As far as terms go, I only know that I have to enter via the entrance exams and that I must go under a different name.", Ichigo said.

"This is correct, but they aren't the only terms. You must die your hair." This got a skeptical look from Ichigo. "Also, you will not get your zampakoutou back." This just provoked Ichigo into a half-yell.

"And why not?"

"When you enter, you will be a first-year. First-years aren't suppose to have a zampakoutou, or any skill at handling one. In fact, first-years barely have any skills or knowledge to the duties of a soul reaper. Do not fret. It will be safely secured with the Headmaster of the Academy and will be returned to you at the weekends and on holidays. Also, you are not to exhibit any knowledge of soul reaper duties and workings. This also includes your relationships with fully fledged soul reapers. You also must not mention your human life." Ichigo could understand that. "All of these and one more are part of the terms of your enrollment and participation. Failure to meet these terms will be seen as treason and you will be detained." Ichigo just scowled at that.

"And what is the extra term?", Ichigo asked.

As one, all 46 members said, "The Oath." Ichigo was momentarily overwhelmed by the mass of voices. After calming down, he straighten himself. The 46 took this as the time to continue. As one, "Repeat the following statements:

"I, Ichigo Kurosaki,", they paused and Ichigo repeated the sentence, "swear on the pride of my name", pause…(The dots will just represent Ichigo repeating the statement)"swear on my honor as a soul reaper"…"and even swear on my very life"…"to uphold the terms of this agreement"…"and give this oath and the audience that serve as it's witness"…"my word that I will not fail, but succeed"…"on this, I promise" After Ichigo repeated the end of the oath, the same familiar voice continued,

"In the earlier half of this meeting, you swore that you would not attack the Soul Society. For this to be true, you must say it under oath."

Again, as one, "Do you, Ichigo Kurosaki, swear on your life, to never provoke the Soul Society, to never attack the whole of the Soul Society, and to never be an enemy of the Soul Society?"

"I do."

"Accepted." and all 46 members claimed "Dismissed". Once they were out of the room, Ichigo was escorted out of the room. It seemed as though much less time has passed when Ichigo exited the front doors to the surface. From here, the collar was removed and Ichigo felt as though he could physically breath better. Once the collar was off, the escort flash-stepped out of existence. Only the leader that actually talked to Ichigo stayed behind. Turning around to him, he asked, "Why does it seem like a lot less time has passed getting out than getting in?"

"Captain Kurotshuchi decided to add movable hallways like the kind in the Traitors palace Las Nochaz. When we arrived, the Central 46 weren't ready to begin so he just adjusted the hallways until it was time.", he said in a casual tone instead of his business one. Ichigo just gave a tired sigh and just kept quiet. What time was it? It was late when he arrived and left his house. It was night when he came in the Soul Society and even darker when he came out after the meeting with the Central 46. He turned around, bowed at Ichigo and said, "Good night, and good luck, Ichigo Kurosaki." And he was gone as well. Ichigo didn't really get to know the guy, and he didn't know a thing about him, including his name; but he still felt like a friend just left him, never to be found. Shaking it off, Ichigo got back to the business at hand. Then he realized something…

_Well this is just great. _Where was he going to go? Home was out of the question since he had to wake up early and go through the entrance exams. He didn't know of any other places that he could crash for the night, and it was starting to get cold, so sleeping outside was also out of the question. While Ichigo was thinking of a probable place to spend the night, he never noticed a black cat creep up behind him. Or notice the smoke that came off of the cat, passing it off as fog.

"I know the perfect place for you to sleep, Ichigo.", Yoruichi practically purred in Ichigo's ear. Ichigo went from ground to 20 feet in the air with a red face. Upon landing, he turned around, but didn't see anything. But, he could've swore he heard her voice. "Aw, your so cute when you blush, you know?", Yoruichi said seductively in Ichigo's ear again, this time wrapping her arms around his neck and nuzzling her chin in the crock of his neck and shoulder. Ichigo again jumped, but Yoruichi held him down. Blushing bloody red and stuttering heavily, Ichigo finally regained his composure and broke from her grip and turned around to see her…

…naked in all her glory. Blush back full force, Ichigo turned around quickly, this time swearing violently. Giving a triumphant smirk that would kill any man lucky enough to witness it, Yoruichi strolled over to Ichigo and asked, "What's wrong Ichigo?"

"Before I answer that, would you please get dressed?", Ichigo said, slightly muffled by his hand that covered his entire face.

Still wearing her smirk, she said, "Such a killjoy. Fine. Come on." She grabbed his hand and dragged him all the way to the secret training ground where Ichigo learned bankai.

Several minutes later, Yoruichi said, "Ok, you can turn around now.", after getting fully dressed. Signing, Ichigo turned around and asked,

"So, what do you need Yoruichi?"

"It isn't a question of what I need, but what you need." Ichigo just rose an eyebrow.

"What I need?"

"Yep. I knew what you were thinking. You couldn't think of anyplace to stay for the night. I was actually gonna just tell you to come here."

"And why didn't you just do that?"

Her smirk graced her face once more, "The urge to tease you was too great to pass up." Ichigo groaned while looking away from the woman. "Anyway, just sleep here for tonight. Tomorrow, you're gonna be busy."

"I take it that you know all about it." Yoruichi nodded.

"Yeah. I would give you some pointers but my logic would be flawed. I didn't have to go through the entrance exams."

"And why was that?" This time, Yoruichi rose an eyebrow.

"I think your forgetting the fact that I was and still am a leader of one of the 4 great noble clans, Shihoin. Nobles in general don't-"

"Wait, what!", Ichigo said with a shocked expression and shaking finger. "You? A noble? Like, like, that prick Byakuya?"

"What, I never told you?" Ichigo nodded no. "Well, yeah I am a noble. And no, not like Byakuya. I actually like to have fun.", she said with a smile. Ichigo finally calmed down and motioned for her to continue her earlier statement. "Nobles in general don't have to due to their status as nobles. They are automatically enrolled into the system. They also get special classrooms and living quarters to themselves. Most of the time, they don't converse with students from the Rukon unless they have to. They look down on them like their trash, even though they may be stronger than them." This news put a scowl on his face. "I, on the other hand, tried to talk with them, but they were to afraid of my linage or something. That's how I met Kisuke."

"About him, he told me something before I left for the Soul Society to agree to this thing the first time. He said something about meeting him in his office. What does that mean?", Ichigo inquired. Yoruichi just stared back while trying to work her way around this. Finally, she just decided to just use an old lie, because she was getting tired and couldn't muster the energy at the moment to make a better one.

"I'm very sneaky and can get information very quickly and efficiently. I lived in the store with him for the past hundred years and I never found an office. I don't know what he means." Ichigo seemed to buy it, so she left it at that. "Now, where you're sleeping…", she thought out loud. Ichigo was then brought back to the reason of being here.

"Why don't I just sleep on the floor, like when you healed me?"

"Too hard of a surface. When you get up, your gonna be stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor and that just can't do as far as tomorrow stands…well, got no choice. You're sleeping with me.", making sure to add a double meaning to that statement. The reaction was successful. Ichigo was blood red and stuttering through excuses and denials. Trying to contain the bubble of laughter growing within her, Yoruichi said, "Don't worry Ichigo. I won't be bad. I promise.", giving her trademark smirk while walking in front of the youth on the ground. Said youth jumped from the ground and started backing away from the approaching woman.

"No. No, no, no. You stay right over there.", Ichigo said while looking behind him to see how far the exit was from the cavern. Yoruichi just smirked even more.

"Oh, will you just quit? Why must you make such a big fuss over everything? And no, not _that_ kind of sleeping together. Just sleeping on the same bed, nothing physical. Unless…that's what you want.", she said the last part seductively. Fighting another stutter fit, Ichigo replied,

"No. No, that's ok, I think I'll pass." He started to panic as Yoruichi just smirked evermore and came closer, walking with a deliberate, slow pace. His anxiety grew once he realized that the exit was out of reach, and then spiked once he ran backwards into the wall and had nowhere to go.

_Why me?_

"**Yeah, why you? Hell, if it was me…"**, Ichigo could feel the smirk and slightly grimaced.

_Shut up. _Sudden laughter was heard from the hollow as Ichigo was forcefully picked up and carried across the room over Yoruichi's shoulder, getting a 5 star view of her wonderful bottom. He now knew what Rukia must've felt like when he did this exact thing earlier today. Yoruichi stopped for a second, touched a stone, and waited for a block of stone to disappear. As difficult as it was, Ichigo was still able to see it. When the door was done, she walked to a hidden room. Ichigo never seen this room before, never even knew it existed. It was just bland, expressionless room with grey walls and floors with a shelf of weapons on one wall, a light in the middle of the ceiling, and a big, comfy looking bed.

"Hey, was this room here before?", he asked.

"Yes it was, you just couldn't see it. When sealed, the door is invisible to anyone that doesn't know about it. In case me or Kisuke were ever here sleeping and our training grounds were compromised, than we would stay here and wait it out until the intruders left. It also has an emergency exit if they had found the entrance of the room and we had to leave in a hurry." Ichigo guessed that made sense. Before he thought anything else, Ichigo was suddenly tossed on the soft, comfy bed. It was so soft, a cloud would be rock, yet it was firm enough that Ichigo was comfortable falling asleep in the position that he was thrown into. He was so distracted with the properties of the bed that he didn't notice Yoruichi leaving the room and come back with a different attire.

"Well, you gonna move?", she asked. Ichigo looked up to see her in a black tank-top that took her curves nicely and ended just above her belly button, coupled with short shorts that ended high on her thighs exposing legs that would put runway models to shame. The waterfall of violet hair that ended mid-lower back and hugged around her neck and face in a way that no other woman could hope to recreate. The tattoo on her left leg seemed to blend perfectly with the whole combination while at the same time stand out on it's own. This was actually the first time that Ichigo ever saw her hair down since the bankai training almost a year ago.

Yoruichi mentally smirked at the stunned youth. _This is to much fun. And it's only going get better later on…_ "Well, are you gonna keep staring or are you going to move?", she asked again.

And then like a car crash, Ichigo remembered what she was making him do, and he immediately jumped off the bed, ran past Yoruichi and for the door. It wasn't a big room by any means, but all of this seemed to happen so slowly in Ichigo's eyes and it felt like forever ago before he made it close to the door. But it then sped up real quickly when he found himself face-first on the ground. Looking behind him, Yoruichi had her arms crossed and a foot raised slightly off the floor.

Signing, Yoruichi said, "Look, if you really don't want to sleep in a comfortable bed with a beautiful woman, then don't. I, for one, am tired.(Yawn) Goodnight, Ichigo.", and then, with a wave of her hand, the light was out.

_2 Hours later…_

One thing was for sure, the floor was definitely as uncomfortable as Yoruichi made it out to be. How the hell did he lay down calmly on this floor a year ago? He could only think that it was the mat that he laid on. He went looking for any other hidden doors for a whole hour, but came up with nothing. And for the past hour, he was trying to get comfortable enough to sleep but that seemed far from happening. The more he thought about it, the more he was tempted to actually sleep with Yoruichi. Before it even came, Ichigo thought, _Here we go again._

"**Then just do it, you fucking pussy! It's not like you're getting laid, you're just gonna be resting in the same bed with her!"**

"_Will you just shut up already? I'm not going to."_

"**And why not? Just what are you so scared of. Of her? Of sharing?"** Sharing? He didn't try this last time.

"_What do you mean 'am I afraid of sharing?'"_

"**When was the last time you ever shared something?"**

"_I shared my room with Rukia whenever she was in town."_

"**Anything else?"**

"…_Uhhh…"_

"**Exactly!"**

"_Hey, just because I couldn't think of something on the spot doesn't mean I don't do it!"_

"**Ichigo, what's your worst fear?"**, he asked in a calm voice. That threw Ichigo for a loop. He knew that his hollow sometimes changes topics on a dime, but this one was unexpected. The way he asked it seemed sensible and calm, not his barbaric, crazy tone. And why would he want to know that? **"Don't answer now. Think it out, and get back to me later. Sleep on the bed, because if we lose to some Rukon District newbie over some sleep, I'm going to permanently take over."**

"_Hey, you ok?",_ but he didn't get an answer back. _"Do you know what wrong with him, Zangetsu?"_

"_He just doesn't understand why you are so afraid and hesitant."_, he said in that deep calm voice of his. "_Nor do I."_ Ichigo sighed.

"_I guess it's just the way she said it. And maybe the way we interact…I don't know."_

"_If Rukia or Orihime asked you to sleep with them, would you."_ Unlike his hollow, he didn't have to wonder what he meant by that statement.

"_Maybe."_

"_And why is that?"_

"_They're friends."_

"_Don't you consider Yoruichi your friend?"_ Silence answered him. _"Do not worry, Ichigo. Sleep. You shall need it."_ And with that, Ichigo felt his link with his inner world disconnect. Ichigo thought about the two conversations for a while. Still undecided, he just stopped thinking about them all together. Then he realized that he was still on the uncomfortable floor. Sighing defeat, he muttered, "Fine, you guys win." After getting up, he walked back into the room where Yoruichi seemed sound asleep. On a bed that comfortable, he supposed it would be easy. Slowly walking over to the bed, he saw that she conveniently left enough space on the bed for another person. He slowly got on the bed, and when he finally settled, he was almost asleep immediately. He never saw the soft smile on Yoruichi's face.

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